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STATE OF MAINE 



To the Senate and House of Representatives. 

It being by the Constitution made the duty of the Gov- 
ernor, " to give the Legislature from time to time infor- 
mation of the condition of the State," I deem it proper to 
avail myself of this occasion, to lay before you, at the close of 
the year, a succinct account of the proceedings of the Execu- 
tive, and copies of the various documents which have been 
prepared and received during the year, in relation to the pre- 
eminently interesting and important question, the North Eastern 
Boundary of our State. Such an exposition is due equally to 
the people and their representatives, who have a right to know 
in detail the action of their public servants, and to the^Execu- 
tive, who has been entrusted with an important duty and a di- 
rect agency in carrying into effect the declared will of the Le- 
gislature, and who may justly feel a natural desire, that the peo- 
ple whom he has served in a responsible station, and in whose 
judgment and justice he reposes his confidence, should fully 
understand his acts and the reasons upon which they were 
founded. 

I expressed to the Legislature and the people my views of 
the rights and duties of this State and of the General Govern- 
ment, in relation to this subject, at the commencement of the 
year. At that time a citizen of our State was imprisoned in a 
foreign jail lor attempting to execute a law within the limits of 
this State and the disputed territory. Before any proceedings 
on the subject by the Legislature or the Executive, after the 
organization of the Civil Government, Mr. Greely was releas- 






"^ 



■SN V- 



ed, without trial or explanation, and returned to his place of 
residence in this State. 

The aspect of the general question, at the commencement 
of the year, in reference to the diplomatic intercourse between 
Great Britain and the United States, and the apparent want of 
interest, in relation to its speedy and satisfactory termination, 
exhibited in the lingering correspondence which had then come 
to light, the apathy and indilTerencc with which other States, 
except those directly interested, seemed to regard it, and the 
general ignorance which prevailed abroad of the grounds of 
our claim and the justice of our cause, all conspired to throw a 
cloud over our rights and an uncertainly over our prospects. 
No communication of any progress in the negotiation had been 
made for several years, and no reply to the last American 
proposition, made in February 1836, had been made public. 
And when, after nearly two years delay, an answer to that 
proposition was received, the result of the discussion was such 
a complete failure, and the negotiation between the two gov- 
ernments had come to such an absolute termination, that the 
President of the United States thought " it due to the State of 
Maine, and necessary to the intelligent action of the General 
Government to take the sense of this State, in regard to the 
expediency of opening a direct negotiation for the establishment 
of a conventional line.'^ 'I his proposition was accordingly 
made through the Executive of this State, and resulted in a de- 
cided expression of the Legislature against the proposal and a 
determination to abide by the treaty line. The only proceed- 
ing which had been had in Congress was the appropriation of 
ft20,000, in 1837, to enable the President to run and locate 
the treaty line, which he had declined to do, on the ground 
that the law was not imperative in its terms, and he did not deem 
it expedient in the state of the then pending negociation. At 
the time of the deliberations of the last Legislature of this State 
upon this subject, another bill providing directly for the survey 
and esiabhshment of the treaty line was pending before Con- 
gress. After declining to accede to the proposition in relation 



to a conventional line, the Legislature, in a subsequent resolve, 
requested our constiiulional Agents at Washington to urge the 
jjassage of that bill, as one demanded both by policy and jus- 
tice, and believing, doubtless, that if that bill failed, and no de- 
cisive movement was made by the General Government, ei- 
ther alone or in conjunction with Great Britain, as therein ex- 
pressed, that the time would then have arrived for Maine to as- 
sume an independent attitude and to commence the work of as- 
certaining, running and locating the North Eastern Boundary 
line. And in that contingency, it was made the imperative duty 
of the Governor to appoint forthwith Commissioners for that 
purpose and "cause the same to be carried into operation." 

The same Legislature by a resolve allowed to Ebenezer S. 
Greely the sum of five hundred dollars, for his sufierings and 
losses,and requested the Governor to ask and receive of the gov- 
ernment of the United States a reimbursement of said sum ; and 
also, by a subsequent resolve, allowed the sum of six hundred 
and seventy five dollars to John Baker and others, for suffer- 
ings and losses in consequence of organizing the town of Mada- 
waska, and in full for all claims, and authorized the Governor 
to make a similar request for re-payment. In another resolve a 
strong anxiety was manifested for some immediate action by 
the General Government, in relation to the establishment of 
Military Posts, and the erection of , Fortifications, within the 
limits of our State. 

It was evident from these various proceedings, that the will 
and wishes of Maine were clearly in favor of strong representa- 
tions and active efforts to biing the controversy to a conclu- 
sion, and I felt bound to use every legitimate mode, within my 
power, to second and secure the desired objects. Therefore, 
at the time when, in compliance with the requests of the Le- 
gislature, I forwarded to our delegation in Congress copies of 
the several resolves and documents in relation to this subject, 
I addressed a letter to them collectively, urging upon them the 
necessity of active exertions in favor of the pending bill, and 
explaining what I conceived to be the true intentions and views 



of Maine, in assuming the attitude and directing the future 
course, specified in the resolves. A copy of that letter is 
herewith communicated, dated April 18, 1838. 

The Adjutant General having made a communication to me 
in reference to our military defences, in order to enforce our 
claims to protection, and in furtherance of the objects of the 
resolve, I addressed a letter to ilie Secretary of War, under 
date of iVpril 5th, 1838, enclosing a copy of the Adjutant Gen- 
eral's communication and urging the importance of prompt con- 
sideration. The result of the ajiplication was the designation 
of Brig. Gen. Wool, of the Army, to make a reconnoisance 
and to report a plan of defence. This duty was performed by 
that officer, with promptitude and fidelity. A copy of his re- 
port, made to the Executive of this State, and also copies of 
other documents upon this subject, are herewith submitted. I 
have received no other information of any action by the Gen- 
eral Government on the subject, although I had strong hopes 
that at least some additional posts would have been established 
before the present time. The documents communicated will 
exhibit the grounds of the request and the details of the pro- 
gress and present state of this matter. 

In considering tiie condition of the whole subject, and the 
attitude to be assumed by Maine, in the event of the failure of 
the specified action on the part of the General Government, 
the advantage of obtaining prompt remuneration for the money 
paid Baker, Greely and others, (not so much on account of 
the amount as the principle involved,) and tiie importance of 
awakening an interest in the question, by explanation and 
information given to those in authority at Washington, of the 
true merits of the controversy and the fixed determination of 
Maine to insist upon some definite proceedings to bring the 
matter to a close, and the manifest wish of this State to induce, 
if possible, the auihoriiies of the United States to relieve 
Maine from the necessity of independent action, it occurred to 
the Executive, that the crisis called for extraordinary exertions 
and the adoption of some more efficient measure, than the 



mere transmission of the documents to Washington. The 
lime seemed propitious for an unusual eflbrt, for the strong 
language and the expressed determination of this State had 
begun to awaken an interest abroad, and men's minds were turn- 
ed to the subject, with a manifest desire to know the truth. 
By an order in Council, a copy of which is communicated, it 
was resolved to send a Special Agent to Washington, to co- 
operate with our Delegation in forwarding the views of the 
Legislature and the People, and in urging our claims and 
our determination upon the attention of the Government at that 
place. It was thought, that such a proceeding, in addition to 
the direct assistance which might be rendered to the delega- 
tion, who were pressed with other public duties towards the 
close of the session, would evince the sense of Maine in rela- 
tion to the importance of the crisis and the necessity of nation- 
al interposition. It was ray anxious wish, that, if the measure 
failed, it should not meet that fate by reason of any want of 
interest or eflbrt on our part. By advice of the Council, 
Charles S. Daveis, Esq. of Portland was appointed to 
perform the duties of Special Agent. A copy of his instruc- 
tions and also of a letter which he bore to the Delegation from 
this State, herewith communicated, will more fully explain the 
nature, and objects of his appointment. Mr Daveis immedi- 
ately repaired to Washington and performed the duties requir- 
ed, with great zeal, discretion and abihty, and to my entire sat- 
isfaction, with equal honor to himself and benefit to the cause. 
His able Report, now transmitted to you, contains a full ac- 
count of his proceedings and success, with many important 
suggestions in reference to the subject matter in controversy; 
forming all together a strong document in support of our impor- 
tant interests. 

Mr. Daveis was also clothed with full power, to ask and 
receive remuneration for the money paid Baker and others. 
He suuceeded, in conjunction vath the delegation, in obtaining 
from Congress the repayment in full, thus securing a recogni- 
tion of the lawfulness of our proceedings, and the justice of our 



! 



claim for protection in the assertion and maintenance ofour un- 
doubted right of possession. Ahliough, in the final resuh, his 
efforts, with those of others, were not eflectual in securina; the 
passage of the pending bill, yet in many respects the effect of 
the various means employed was visible in the deliberations 
and action of Congress. The question was rescued from the 
death like stupor in which it had so long rested. A new im- 
pulse was given to the cause. For the first time, the whole 
subject was made the foundation of a Congressional report, and 
enlisted in investigation and debate the talents and eloquence of 
some of our ablest statesmen. The question became respect- 
ed, and from obscurity and neglect it rose to the first rank in 
interest and importance. Instead of being regarded as a question 
involving a fewacres of uninhabitable land in the far oft>egions of 
the north, and a border trouble aflecting only this frontier State, it 
was assumed and treated as a national matter, which involved the 
vital interests of one member of the Confederacy, and the plight- 
ed faith and Constitutional obligations of the Union to make 
the controversy its own. A feeling of sympathy was mani- 
fested in various parts of the country and an expression of con- 
viction, that Maine had a just cause too long neglected, accom- 
panied with the gratifying assurance, that our rights must be 
vindicated and would be sustained by the Nation. The able 
and decided Report upon the question of right, made to the 
Senate of the United States by the Chairman of the Committee 
of Foreign Relations, (Mr Buchanan,) and the discussions in the 
Senate and House gave satisfactory evidence of increasing inter- 
est and the apprehension of the true grounds ofour claim. The 
Resolves, finally adopted in both branches, without a dissenting 
vote, fully assert the unquestionable justice of our cause and the 
validity of our title. The postponement of the bill, providing 
for a survey and marking and placing monuments on the line, 
was unsatisfactory and in view of the whole matter, to my mind 
inexpedient and a denial of our manifest rights. But it would 
be unjust to deny that an important advance was made in the 
general condition of the question, by the progress of informa- 



tion and conviction at Washington and in all parts of the Union. 
Where, as in this country, public opinion, in relation to polit- 
ical action is so strong in its power, it is all important to the 
success of any cause, that it should be enlightened and satisfied 
of the justice and equity of an asserted claim. 

Mr Daveis was also the bearer of a -letter from the Gov- 
ernor of Maine, to the President of the United States, dated 
April 28, 1838, asking remuneration for the money paid and 
urging the importance and expediency of definite and prompt 
proceedings, and explaining the position which JMaine had 
assumed, and the anxious desire which was here felt, to be re- 
lieved from the necessity of independent action. No reply to 
this communication has been received, but it was transmitted 
by the President to Congress and has heretofore been published. 
A copy is now laid before you. 

I also herewith submit a copy of a letter from the Secretary 
of State to the Governor of Maine, dated May 8th, 1838, in 
reply to the communication enclosing a copy of the Resolves 
&c. of the Legislature. From this it appeared, that the Pres- 
ident, "in consideration of the result of the application of the 
General Government to the State of Maine, in relation to a 
conventional line, and in accordance with the expressed wishes 
of the Legislature, had ordered a new proposition to be made 
to the Government of Great Britain, for the establishment of 
a joint commission of survey and exploration, upon the basis 
of the original American proposition, and the modifications 
offered by Her Majesty's Government." 

The contents of this note were deemed by me of the high- 
est importance, and I considered it my duty, the Legislature 
having adjourned, to express fully and frankly to the Secretary 
of State, in reply, my views of the wishes and intentions of 
Maine, and to protest, in decided language, against what 1 un- 
derstood to be the purport and meaning of the language used 
by him, and to assure him, that after a lapse of more than half 
a century of negotiation, Maine asked for something more than 
a mere commission of exploration, without power to settle any 



8 

thing, and most solemnly remonstrated against the vital modifi- 
cations of Her Majesty's Government. A copy of that reply, 
dated June 9th, 1838, is submitted to you, that you may be 
enabled to express your own views and correct any misconcep- 
tion of the wishes and opinions of the people, which )ou may 
discover therein. 

I invite your attention more particularly to this document, as 
it appears by the recent Message of the President, that no 
rep ly has yet been made by Great Britain, to the proposition 
oflered last April, although the President, in what appears to 
me a spirit of almost unexampled patience, expresses a belief, 
that the British Minister will receive powers to conclude the 
arrangement, without needless delay. 

An opportunity is thus afforded, by the patienceof one gov- 
ernment, and the obvious procrastination of the other, for the 
Legislature of Maine to express its own views of the charac- 
ter of the proposed Convention, and the expediency of as- 
senting to it. I have communicated my objections. They 
were presented as my deliberate protest, and it is for you to 
confirm, to modify or retract it. 

A copy of the answer to this communication from the Sec- 
retary of State, dated June 28, 1838, enclosing a copy of his 
letter to the Hon. Mr. Williams^ as explanatory of the nature 
of the proposition, is now communicated to you. It is for 
you to judge, whether any beneficial effects, equal to the in- 
convenience and injury by the great delay which must be occa- 
sioned, are likely to result from a mere commission of explo- 
ration and survey only, of the whole extent of the line, from 
the head of the St. Croix to the northwesternmost head of 
Connecticut River, especially since the examination and survey, 
which have been made during the past season by Maine, of the 
most important part, which had not been sufficiently examined 
before. My own views upon this point are fully expressed in 
the note which I had the honor to address to the Secretary of 
State, that, "after fifty-five years of procrastination, it is reas- 
onable to ask, that whatever movement is made should have a 



direct and unavoidable tendency towards a final settlement, and 
not, when ended, leave the parlies upon the same spot from 
which they started." With these explanations and documents, 
the whole matter is submitted to your consideration, that you 
may give such an expression of opinion on the subject, as to 
you may seem proper, and such as the honor and rights of 
Maine may, in your view, demand. 

The assumption of a right to exclusive and absolute jurisdic- 
tion, by the government of New Brunswick, over the whole 
territory north of the sources of the Aroostook and St. John 
Rivers, and the establishment of a Wardenship over the same, 
by the concurrence, as is asserted, of the President of the 
United States, and the exercise of authority within the same 
limits, have been the subject of frequent objection and loud re- 
monstrance on the part of this State. 1 have not considered 
that the honor or faith of the State required of any of its offi- 
cers to acknowledge the existence of such a right to exclusive 
jurisdiction, or the authority of such a Warden. Under the 
very judicious and liberal law of last winter, in relation to the 
settlement of the public lands, it was deemed expedient that 
several townships should be surveyed into lots for settlers. 
Several of those townships are north of the line that has been 
claimed by Great Britain, and also of a line due west from the 
latitude of Mars Hill, which has been sometimes assumed, (upon 
what ground I am at a loss to understand) as the true divisionalline. 

Under the direction of the Land Agent and Governor and 
Council, Townships No. 10 and 12 in the 5th range west of the 
east line of the State, upon the Aroostook waters, have been 
surveyed into lots by the Surveyor General and his assistants, 
and fifty two lots have been sold and conveyed in No. 10, and 
three in No. 12, and thirty-five in No. 4, all in the said 5ih 
Range. Many other lots have been applied for in that section, 
a strong interest has been excited, and emigration has been 
turned in that direction. 

The public curiosity, awakened in part doubtless by the con- 
tradictory reports, or rather assertions in relation to the Aroos- 



10 

took territory, seemed to demand a correct exploration, and 
Dr. Ezekiel Holmes, well known as a scientific agriculturalist 
and geologist, was employed by the Board of Internal Im- 
provements in that service. An account of the character of 
this section will be found in the full and satisfactory report 
made by him, which will be laid before you, and which I think 
will clearly show, that this virgin soil is unsurpassed in fruilful- 
ness and capacity of production by any other section of our State. 

I refer you to the lucid report of the land agent for particular 
information relative to the progress of the sale and settlement of 
the land in this region. 

In that document will also be found an account of the active 
and efficient measures, adopted by that vigilant officer to break 
up the parties, who had made their preparations and commenc- 
ed trespassing on the Aroostook lands, belonging to this State. 
It is encouraging and satisfactory, that this first attempt to in- 
terfere directly with such unlawful acts resulted in so great 
success; and there can be no doubt, that hereafter, as the means 
of communication are increased by vigilance and determination 
on the part of the State Authorities, this system of unau- 
thorized and lawless plundering can be prevented. 

Although the Legislature at its last session, by the non-con- 
currence of the Senate, declined making any appropriation for 
the continuation of the Aroostook Road, the Land Agents of 
the two States, under the authority vested in them, have caus- 
ed the road to be perfectly made to the 30 mile tree, and to be 
prepared for a w-inter road to the Aroostook River. I refer you 
to the Land Agent's report for the particulars. 

These various steps of locating lots and giving deeds to ac- 
tual settlers, preventing trespasses and continuing this very im- 
portant road, have confirmed and established our possession and 
jurisdiction of this valuable territory, and opened for our young 
men a field of enterprise, where industry and economy can re- 
alize their appropriate rewards. I cannot doubt that every 
citizen of the State will concur in the expediency of immedi- 
ately taking measures to continue the survey of townships into 



11 

lots and the sale to actual settlers, and to continue, also, the road 
to the St. John River. Reasonable encouragement to new set- 
tlers, which should always be the policy of the State, and a 
firm determination to protect them, will soon fill this fertile re- 
gion with hardy and intelligent men, who are the true strength 
and defence of our State. 

During the progress of the Surveys, a person, assuming to be 
"Warden of the disputed territory," delivered to the Surveyor 
General of this State a written protest, a copy of which is 
herewith transmitted, together with a copy of the reply of the 
Surveyor General, denying his right and asserting his own de- 
termination to fulfil his instructions. No other interference 
was attempted. 

The contingencies nan^.ed in the Resolve in relation to the 
Boundary not having occurred, and no action on the part of the 
General Goverraent having been had as therein contemplated, 
on or before the first day of September last, it became my duty 
"to appoint forthwith suitable Commissioners and Surveyors, 
for ascertaining, running and locating the North Eastern Boun- 
dary line of this State, and to cause the same to be carried into 
operation." I accordingly, on the third of September last, ap- 
pointed and commissioned John G. Deane, Milford P. Nor- 
ton and James Irish Esqrs. Commissioners, and Wm. P. Par- 
rott, Esq. Surveyor. In considering the proper instructions 
and deciding upon the most expedient course to be pursued in 
commencing the work required, and the most useful mode of 
operation during the short time remaining of the season, I was 
led into an investigation of the actual facts in relation to former 
surveys ond explorations. A condensed account of those 
surveys, contained in the various documents to which access 
has been had, will probably be interesting, as bringing to light 
facts but little known, except to those who have deeply inves- 
tigated the subject, and bearing directly upon the question of 
the correctness of the course finally adopted by the Executive. 
In 1817 when the Commissioners of the tw^o Governments, 
appointed under the 5th article of the Treaty of Ghent, viz : 



12 

Thomas Barclay on the part of Great Britain and C. P. Van 
Ness of Vermont on the part of the United States, met to pro- 
ceed upon the business before them, it was mutually agreed by 
the Agents of the two governments and ordered b}- the Com- 
missioners, that "an actual survey of the due north line from 
the source of the St. Croix, and an exploring survey of said 
line and of the highlands, which divide those rivers that empty 
themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall 
into the Atlantic Ocean," should be commenced and completed. 
Accordingly instructions w-ere given to the Surveyors of both 
governments to repair to the Monument, at the source of the 
St. Croix, and select one party from each company to com- 
mence the actual survey of said boundary line from the Monu- 
ment, and run the same due north upon a meridional line to 
proceed until further orders, the survey to be made by them 
separately and the line to be agreed upon by both. This sur- 
vey was under the direction of Charles Turner Jr. on the part 
of the United States and Colin Campbell on the part of the 
British Government. 

Another party under the direction of tlie principal Survey- 
ors, viz : Col. Bouchette on the part of G. Britain and John 
Johnson on the part of the United States was directed, whilst 
the actual survey was in progress, "for the purpose," as the 
instructions say, " of obtaining such information concerning the 
probable extent of the meridional line as also the courses and 
distances of the line along the highlands to the Northvvesternmost 
head of Connecticut River, to proceed upon an exploring sur- 
vey, upon a line due North from the Slake already mentioned, 
(the monument) until they arrived at some one of the streams 
or waters lohich are connected with the river St. Lawrence, and 
explore the different highlands which lie between the last men- 
tioned line and the Northwesternniost head of Connecticut Riv- 
er, and also to explore and ascertain as near as practicable the 
sources of the various streams which rise between the line last 
mentioned (the due Norlh line) and the Northwesternniost head 
of Connecticut River and empty themselves into the St. Law^- 



13 

rence or the Atlantic Ocean, and also the elevations and prom- 
inent features of the land which divide said streams or waters." 

It may be noticed, in passing, that the language of these in- 
structions very plainly indicates, that at that time, no doubt was 
entertained that the due North line extended to the waters of 
the St. Lawrence, as the language is not that of the treaty 
even, — but the instructions distinctly spealc of the waters of 
the St. Lawrence being found in a due JYorth line. 

Under these instructions the actual survey was commenced 
from the Monument in 1817, and proceeded about 20 miles. 
The surveyors, however, at times difl'ering, and probably at 
last ascertaining that they had made some mistakes, abandoned 
the work. 

The Surveyors made separate reports in 1818, as appears 
by the Journal of the Commissioners, which were ordered to 
be filed. 

After the reports were made to the Commissioners, of tne 
actual survey, they did, on the 20th of May 1818, order, that 
the actual survey and marking of the due North line be suspend- 
ed "until the Astronomers can revise and if necessary correct 
the same." I have not been able to find that either Astrono- 
mers or Surveyors ever went on again to this line, designated 
as the actual line, or that any thing more has been done in re- 
lation to it. 

Col. Bouchette and Mr. Johnson proceeded with the ex- 
ploring line in 1817 across the St. John to 99 miles from the 
Monument, and made separate reports of their doings. At the 
meeting of the Commissioners in 1818, apparently for the first 
time, the British agent suggests doubts whether the due North 
line of the treaty will extend to the St. Lawrence waters, and 
proposes to discontinue the further survey and exploration in 
that line and return to the region of Mars Hill, and explore 
from thence westwardly, by the sources of the Aroostook and 
Des Chutes, and thence towards the sources of the Chaudiere 
and the Kennebec, where the agent alleges, he has good cause 
to believe that the higlilands contemplated in the treaty will be 



14 

fouiul. This new proposition was resisted by the American 
agent, lie alleging that the highlands of the treaty would be 
found at the extremity of the due North line, if run, as first 
agreed upon, and that a survey /rom thence along the highlands 
would demonstrate it. Although the request of the British 
agent was not in terms granted, yet the result was nearly the 
same, as the surveyors were ordered to finish the exploring 
survey of the due North line, and not to proceed at all 
Westwardly along the highlands, but to return immediately to 
the region of Mars liill, and commence the exploration of the 
highlands at that point, according to the suggestion of the Brit- 
ish agent. Accordingly, in 1818, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Odell 
(who had been substituted for Col. Bouchette,) proceeded to run 
the exploring line from the point where it was left the former 
year, to Beaver or Metis River, which empties into Lake Metis 
and from thence into the St. Lawrence, and having arrived at 
that stream, without exploring or running along the highlands 
from that point, according to the first instructions and the terms 
of the treaty, they returned to Mars Hill. And it is a singular 
fact, that after that time, no American Surveyor, or authorized 
Agent, has ever examined or traced the height of land, or given 
any account of the character of the country about the North- 
west angle of Nova Scotia. It seems as if both parties most 
studiously avoided that point, which was the most important of 
all, and the subsequent surveys continued through 1819 & 20, 
were almost entirely confined to the examination of isolated 
hills and imaginary ranges South of the St. John. 

The Surveyors who run the exploring line are very brief in 
their descriptions of the country at and about the Northwest 
angle. Mr. Odell, the British Surveyor, says — "that on the 
borders of Beaver Stream, where the line intersects it, is a 
piece of low, wild meadow. At a short distance from the 
stream, on both sides, the ground rises moderately, but the el- 
evation is very small and there is no appearance of highlands." 

Mr Johnson, in his report, says "proceeding North (from 
132 miles) the land continues very high and not very uneven 



15 

to 144 miles 26 chains, where the land is nearly as high as at 
132 miles, and is the ridge which divides the waters emptying 
into the River St. Lawrence from those which lall into the 
Atlantic Ocean. On the top of this ridge is a large yellow 
birch tree. From this point to Beaver Creek (Stream,) there 
is a general and very considerable descent, interrupted by a 
few places of rising ground for short distances." 

It is true, that near the close of the surveys, the American A- 
gent obtained an order for some explorations North of the St. 
John, but they resulted in a rapid visit by Mr Burnham and Dr 
Tiarks to Beaver Stream and Lake Metis, and two or three 
other spots at the portages, where of course the land was the 
lowest. Mr. Burnham in his report says, that he adopted that 
course of visiting distinct and separate places, by going directly 
to them and returning, bemg under the impression that he "could 
not trace the division of waters from Beaver Stream to the 
Grand Portage in season to report before the meeting of the 
Board." There were some other slight examinations of the 
Portages by Mr. Johnson and Capt. Partridge, but no explora- 
tion along the highlands from the N. W. angle towards the 
head of Connecticut River. 

Thus with imperfect and unfinished surveys on our part, 
the question was submhted to the Commissioners, who disagreed, 
and afterwards to the Umpire, who was not satisfied with the 
evidence, and who, as Mr. McLane says, " is not understood 
to have found it impracticable, at least to his own satisfaction 
to find highlands answering the description of the highlands of 
the treaty, but his embarrassment arose from not being able to 
find them in a direction due north from the monument." 

It is a fact worthy of notice, that this State and the Com- 
monw^ealth of Massachusetts, by their Lr.nd Agents, have sur- 
veyed and examined the whole line as claimed by Great Bri- 
tain from Mars Hill to our western boundary, but have never, 
until the present year, attempted any examination of the true 
line, as claimed by us. 

Although our claim does not depend upon the height of tiie 



16 

hills or land, and an elevation sufficient to turn the waters 
flowing in different directions satisfies the terms of the treaty, 
yet it is not to be disguised, that from the want of actual infor- 
mation of the facts, the assenion has been made and repeated, 
that the treaty line is impracticable, and that the character of 
the land is such that no dividing range can be found. It is re- 
markable, in looking back upon the diplomatic correspondence, 
that we find so much evidence that the objections to our claim 
resrso materially upon the obscurity and contradictions, and 
allegations w ithout proof, relative to the face of the country, at 
and near the Northwest angle. 

The very extraordinary suggestion made by Mr. Livingston in 
1832, to seek the highlands west of the due north line, if not 
found in that line, vvas apparently founded on want of accurate in- 
formation of the true character of the country .The British Min- 
ister, (Mr Vaughan,)as might have been expected, in reply speaks 
of " the obscurity, which after all the endeavors of the two gov- 
ernments, still rests upon the position of the highlands." Mr. 
McLane, our Minister, in again urging the views of Mr. Liv- 
ingston, after alluding to the claim of Great Britain, tliat the 
highlands should be sought for exclusively south of the St. 
John, and the American claim that they should be sought north 
of that river, makes the following remarkable declaration : "It 
is the difficulty of reconciling these conflicting pretensions which 
has hitherto prevented the settlement of the boundary question, 
arising chiejly hoicever from the impracticability of finding a 
point of hig])lands answering the description in the treaty, to 
which a line due north from the Monument could be drawn." 

Mr. Vaughan in reply again alludes to this point of the imprac- 
ticability of the due north line, and he broadly asserts, that 
" every thing which is known of the geography of the country 
tends to show that no such highlands can be found in that par- 
ticular meridian," and he says " the American Government, 
almost admitting the fact, suggests that the required highlands 
should be sought for in a northwesterly direction from the as- 
certained spot." He also adds, "that to carry the treaty strict- 



17 



]y and literally into execution is physically and geographically 

impossible." 

Mr. McLane again urges the idea of a departure from the 

true north, and says: 

" The proposition of the President is to find the highlands 
answering the description of those called for by the treaty of 
1783, and to them, from the monument, to run a direct Une, 
and the President does not doubt, that with the aid of more 
accurate surveys, by skilful persons on the ground, and freed 
from the restraint hitherto imposed by a due north liriey such 
highlands may be found." 

Other expressions of similar import, in relation to the asser- 
ted impracticability of the treaty line, may be found in other 
parts of the correspondence in 1835 and 1836. 

In the recent renewal of the correspondence between our 
Government and that of Great Britain, Mr. Fox, the British 
Minister, in his letter of January 10th, 1838, says: "The 
British Government, despairing of the possibility of drawing a 
line which shall be in literal conformity with the words of the 
treaty of 1783, has suggested that a conventional boundary 
should be substituted for the line described by the treaty." 
This is but a repetition of the idea, contained in Mr. Vaughan's 
note of May 8th, 1833, that the description of boundary con- 
tained in the treaty is defective and should be abandoned. 

Finally— in the note from Mr. Forsyth to Mr. Williams, one 
of our Senators in Congress, before referred to, he (Mr. For- 
syth) states, that the object of the President in offering to 
make the last proposition for an exploring survey "is to test 
the correctness of the opinion of the State of Maine, that the 
line described in the treaty of 1783 can be found and traced, 
whenever the Governments of the United States and Great 
Britain shall proceed to make the requisite investigations, with 
a predisposition to effect the desired object." 

In deciding upon the course to be pursued, and the instruc- 
tions to be given to the Commissioners, it seemed to the Exec- 
utive, considering the shortness of the time remaining after the 



18 

appointment of the Commissioners and the preparations for the 
expedition, the want of suitable instruments for accurate and 
exact surveys, and the small part of the actual line which could 
be run and located, during the past season, and more especially- 
considering the mystery and uncertainty, which diplomacy and 
management had thrown over the character of the country 
about the often named angle, and the importance which had 
been given to this want of information, both by our Gen- 
eral Government and that of Great Britain, the anxiety manifes- 
ted by the Legislature of Maine in 1837, and the high proba- 
bility that an examination of that section would dissipate all 
doubts and remove all uncertainty, and would supersede the 
necessity of any further explorations by either Government, 
which would delay the settlement of the question, that it was 
advisable, to act, in the first instance, upon that part of the 
resolve which requires the Commissioners to " fo ascertain''' 
the true hne, and to direct an examination of the country about 
the north west angle of Nova Scotia, particularly the height of 
land west therefrom. Instructions to the Commissioners were 
accordingly prepared to that effect, a copy of which is here- 
with submitted, and to which I refer for particulars, in relation 
to the acts to be performed, and the course of conduct to be 
pursued, in discharging their duties. 

I was strengthened in my belief, that this course would meet 
the wishes of the Legislature and people, and be productive of 
the most benefit, by ihe decided expression of nearly similar 
views in the report accepted by a former Legislature in 1837. 
I would refer to the whole report, and will quote but a single 
paragraph. After saying that: "In all our inquiries and ex- 
aminations of this subject there has been great negligence in 
regard to this Northwest Angle," the report continues: "It is 
indeed time for us to begin to search, and in the right place too, 
in order to put a stop to these perpetual encroachments upon 
our territory and rights. Our first object should be to ascer- 
tain and trace the north boundary of JVoi-a Scotia, which is 
the south boundary of the Province of Quebec, and see if 



19 

Canada comes as far down as Mars Hill. And we should 
proceed to finish taking the elevations on the due north line, 
to some point where the waters divide. The General Gov- 
ernment should be immediately called on to execute the work, 
with the co-operation of Massachusetts and Maine. Notice 
should be given to the British authorities to unite in the under- 
taking, and if they refuse, our government 'ought to proceed 
ex parte. The act would be entirely pacific, as the object 
would be to ascertain facts, much more pacific than the survey, 
without notice, of the St. Andrews and Quebec railroad through 
our territory — not for the purpose of ascertaining a boundary, 
but to assume jurisdiction." 

In connection with the instructions to the Commissioners, 
I also transmit a copy of a letter from the Governor of Maine 
to the Lt. Governor of New Brunswick, containing the sub- 
stance of the instructions, relative to the exploring survey, 
and the answer of Sir John Harvey. The Legislature, not 
having provided for any joint action by Maine and N. Bruns- 
wick, no suggestion of that kind was made by me. And as 
we claimed an undoubted right, without concurrence or assent, 
to ascertain facts and run the line, no such assent or concur- 
rence was asked, but a plain and simple statement of what was 
intended to be done by the Commissioners, under the then 
"present instructions," was given. It seemed to me, that 
such a course was equally consistent with the honor and the 
best interests of the State. 

As I have elsewhere said, I believe that "on this subject we 
have no ulterior views and no concealed objects. Our plans 
and our policy are open and exposed to the view of all men. 
Maine has nothing in either to conceal or disguise." I confess 
myself to be one of those, who have little faith in the import- 
ance of formal observances, or in the mysteries of diplomacy. 
I believe that in transactions between States, as well as indi- 
viduals, much ill blood and many unfortunate disagreements, 
and irreconcilable quarrels, ending in open war, might have 
been prevented by frank disclosures of intentions and motives, 



20 

and the sim])le course of plain dealing with each other, and the 
faithful observance of that golden rule, which, although perhaps 
it is not found in the codes of national law, or the rules of di^ 
plomatists, is yet worth them all — "Do unto others as you 
would that others should do unto you." 

I was also anxious that, if any difllculty or collision should 
arise between the Commissioners, clothed with authority by 
this Slate, and the officers of the Province of New Bruns- 
wick, there should not be afterwards any occasion to complain 
of want of information of our real intentions, and the actual 
instructions, or any such assumed justification for proceedings 
based upon imaginary facts. 

The answer of Sir John Harvey, although couched in court- 
eous language, according with the well known high and honor- 
able character of that officer, will yet doubtless command your 
attention and deliberate consideration, as expressing in frank 
and decided language, the character and extent of his instruc- 
tions, relative to maintaining the jurisdiction of the disputed 
territory. 

The Commissioners and Surveyor, having received their in- 
structions, and made preparations for the expedition, immedi- 
a,tely repaired to the point designated, and with zeal and fidelity 
continued in the performance of the duties assigned them, until 
the severity of the weather compelled them to return. Their 
report, which I liave the pleasure to transmit to you, will be 
read with interest and satisfaction. By that it appears, that the 
exploring line was found marked to near the north w^est angle ; 
that the base of the countiy rises constantly and regularly from 
the monument at the head of the St. Croix to the angle, which 
is from two to three thousand feet above the level of the sea, 
and more than 500 feet higher than the Kedgwick, one of the 
streams running into the Bay of Chaleur near the said angle and 
the St. Lawrence waters ; that the due north line, if continued to 
the valley below the N. W. angle, actually strikes the St. Law- 
rence waters, and that the country is high, and even mountainous 
about tliis spot. And there is no difficulty in tracing a line west- 



21 

wardly along distinct and well defined highlands, dividing waters 
according to the words of the treaty. The extensive and cor- 
rect map of the north part of our State and the southern por- 
tion of Canada, and the vertical section, as prepared by Mr. 
Parrott, the Surveyor, with neatness and accuracy, which ac- 
company the report, add much to its value and interest. Ta- 
ken together, they exhibit the true character of ihe country, and 
leave little or nothing to be desired illustrative of it. 

I had at one time intended to give further and final instruc- 
tions to the Commissioners in relation to their future operations. 
But as the Resolve is in full force, and will be, until repealed, 
and as no further operations could have been carried on the 
past year, I have not thought it expedient, and it might have 
been deemed improper for me, to anticipate the action of the 
Legislature or Executive of the present year. The Commis- 
sion is in existence and the Commissioners subject to future 
direction. 

A part of the expenses of the survey has been paid out of 
the contingent fund, by the Governor and Council, but as no 
specific appropriation was made to meet these expenses, 
the charges will be subject to your determination. It will 
be seen by the instructions to the Commissioners, that all 
compensation for service, was made to depend upon your 
decision. 

In this communication, I have confined myself to the single 
purpose of information and explanation relative to the acts of 
the Executive. In my present position it may not belong to 
me to assume, according to the provision of the constitution, 
to recommend to your consideration such mersures as I may 
judge expedient, or to advise in relation to the future action of 
tjie State. I will however venture to remark, that it is evident 
that Maine must maintain her own interests and rights, by urgent 
appeals and a determined course, and c^se her claims to be re- 
spected, by unremitting vigilance and unyielding perseverance. 
The time for mere abstract disquisitions, upon the question of 
jfight, has passed. If facts and arguments can ever establish any 



23 

position, our right is established, to the satisfaction of all un- 
prejudiced and disinterested men. It now remains only to 
assert and enforce it, practically and efficiently, to demand 
that justice and protection which is due from the General 
Government to a member of the Union, and to maintain, in- 
flexibly, our right to the possession and jurisdiction of our 
whole State, according to the treaty of 1783. 

I have thus finished the exposition which I intended, and 
performed what seemed to me a duty, but which may by 
some be regarded as uncalled for and unusual. In retiring 
from responsibilities, which 1 did not seek, and most cheerfully 
surrender, although I may not be at liberty to infer that my 
course and policy upon this subject have met the entire concur- 
rence and approbation of the people of this State, yet I cannot 
but feel an assurance that something will be allowed to the diffi- 
culties of my position and to the anxious desire, which I have 
felt to maintain and advance the rights of the State involved in 
this great question. Whatever may be the final issue of events, 
in relation to our claim, I trust I may indulge the belief, that 
during the short time I have been connected with the Gov- 
ernment, in this matter, at least, "the Republic has received 
no detriment." 

EDWARD KENT. 

Council Chamber, ) 
January 2d, 1839. S 



NO. 1. 

STATE OF MAINE. 

Executive Department, I 
Augusta, April 18, 1838, ^ 
To the Delegation from Maine, in the Congress of the United 

States. 
Gentlemex — :You will individually receive ft-om the Executive 
of Maine a copy of sundry documents in relation to the Nortii 
Eastern Boundary question, which, I have no doubt, will receive 
from you all the attention their importance demands. The 
Legislature has spoken in a language not to be misunderstood or 
misinterpreted, and I feel a perfect assurance that the people of 
Maine respond to those sentiments. JYo departure from the treaty 
line, is the emphatic motto of Maine, and by that line she will 
abide, until its impracticability is demonstrated, or some definite 
and specific proposition for a line, equal in territory or privileges, 
is^mado, as suggested in my Message. Maine steadily opposes, 
as you will perceive, any nev/ proposition on our part for a con- 
ventional line. 

You will see that the Legislature has taken an important step 
in relation to running the treaty line, and it is to that part of their 
proceedings to which I would invite your attention, as bearino- 
most directly upon the question now before Congress. I have 
thought that a construction might possibly be given, or an infer- 
ence drawn, against the facts and the real intentions of our State, 
from that provision, which requires the Governor, in a certain 
contingency, to run the line, under the authority of the State. 
If any one should imagine, or allege, that Maine is anxious or 
desirous to assume this attitude, or to take this matter from the 
General Government, or is indifferent whether the United States 
or Maine appoint the Commissioners to run this line, I can only 
say, that I have no doubt, he would entirely mistake the wishes and 
feelings of this State. The strong and unanimous wish of Maine 
is, that the Bill now before Congress should pass into a Law and 
be fully executed by the authority of the United States. 

V^ e think we have a right to demand this, as an act of justice 
to us as one of the States of the Union. We feel that expediency 
and interest both point to this course, as the best and the safest. 
I assure you that the people of Maine look with intense interest 
to the action of Congress and the Executive upon this subject, 
and that their earnest and unquestionable wish and hope is, that 
the United States will go forward in the work. Maine does not 
seek or wish to act independently of the United States, but feeling 
that it belongs properly to that Government to run the treaty line, 

3 



26 

she will most reluctantly give up the hope, that it is the intention 
of the powers at Washington to do it. The question is now 
before you, under the Bill in progress in ^he House of Represen- 
tatives, and I trust I shall not he deemed intrusive or officious in 
urging upon you, in behalf of the whole people of Maine, to use 
your unremitted endeavors to insure the passage of the Bill, or 
some provisions by which the object therein contemplated may be 
effected. Tiie question is a national one, and the action tl.ereon 
oucht to be national. Our neighbors of New Brunswick and 
the Britisli Government ouglit to understand, that the Commis- 
sioners to run the line act under the authority of the United 
States, and will be sustained by that Government. So long as 
ihcy believe or suspect that Maine is not acting ia accordance 
with the wishes of the United States, and stands upon her own 
responsibility, alone and unsupported, we must expect a repetition 
of outrages upon our rights and the persons of our citizens and 
agents. But it is unnecessary, and may be deemed presumptuous 
in one to suggest to you in detail, the various reasons which so 
strongly urge immediate action on the part of the General Gov- 
ernment. They must be apparent to every person acquainted 
with the present state of the controversy, and who looks forward 
to the probable issue of events, should the State proceed to 
execute her expressed determination. The Legislature, I am 
well persuaded, by the Resolution referred to, intended to express 
a fixed determination to bring this question to a final issue, and 
the opinion, that if the present Bill shall be rejected, by Congress. 
and 'no movement made either by Congress or the Executive, 
that Mame would be justified in regarding such neglect as a 
distinct avowal of a determination not to interfere in the mannei 
proposed, and that, in that event, Maine owes it to herself tc 
move in the matter upon her own responsibility. But no jus 
inference can be drawn that Maine intended to absolve the Unite* 
States Government from the duty and responsibility, which sh 
believes rests upon it, to come forward as principals in the matter 
and the course proposed is clearly intended as a last resort t 
assert our rights, all other measures failing. But the determina 
tion of Maine is fixed, and so far as rests upon me, her will ant 
wishes, as expressed by the Legislature, shall be of binding forci 
and be faithfully executed. But I cannot but feel, that if we an 
driven to assume this responsibility, and to go forward unaidct 
and unsupported, the General Government will be justly charga 
ble with neglect of a Constitutional duty and an abandonment, ir 
the moment of peril, of one of the States of the Union, whose 
claims have already been too long postponed, and too lightlj 
regarded. It becomes us all, permit me to say, to whom an} 
portion of power has been delegated, to do all that we can to urg« 
our claims to protection and our right of possession, upon iht, 



General Government, so that if we resort, in self' defence, to 
independent action, there may be no imputation upon our State 
of neglect in setting forth her claims or declaring her ultimate 
determination. I have no other apology to muko for this some- 
what unusual mode of address, than such as may be found in the 
nature of the suggestions made, and the importance of the subjects 
discussed. It gives me great pleasure to state, that the move- 
ments and proceedings of our Delegation in Congress, durinw the 
present session, on this question, have been, I am confident, 
highly satisfactory to the people they represent; and the citizens 
of Maine look to them with confidence, as the Guardians and 
Asserters of their rights, to persevere with renewed and redoubled 
energy and determination to procure the passage of the law, 
which shall secure the immediate action of the General Govern- 
ment in the survey of the line designated by the treaty of 1783. 

With much respect, 
I have the honor to be, 
Your obedient servant, 

EDWARD KENT. 
To Hon. JOHN RUGGLES, 
'« " REUEL WILLIAMS, 
" " JOHN FAIRFIELD, 
" " F. O. J. SMITH. 



(( ii 



GEORGE EVANS, 
THOiMAS DAVEE, 
H. J. ANDERSON, 
J. C. NOYES, 
EDWARD ROBINSON. 



NO. 2. 

STATE OF MAINE. 

Executive Department, > 
April .5, 1838 \ 

To the Hon. Joel R. Poinsetl, Secretary of IVarofthe United Slattsy 
Sir: — I have the honor to inclose a communication made to- 
the Executive of this State, by the Adjutant General, on the 
subject of the establishment of a Military Post in the vicinity of 
the boundary line between Maine and Canada. The frontier of 
Maine adjoining New Brunswick and Canada, is more than si.x 
hundred miles in extent. Upon the whole of this line (he Gov-> 
ernment of the United States has established but a solitary post,, 
and this is near a fixed monument, and where there is no con(ro-) 
versy relative to the rightful possession of the soil. The rightsi 
and peculiar situation of Maine, the interest of the United States, 
and the peace and security of our citizens, require that Militar;^ 



28 

Posts should be placed at intervals upoh this line. Such a policy, 
it is believed, will aid the argument in favor of our claim to the 
disputed territory, and lead t© an early and just settlement of it. 
The perpetually recurring troubles upon our borders admonish 
us, that the time has come when our dignity and safety require 
that we should assume an attitude of armed observation, if not of 
defensive preparation. 1 have been mi'ovmQd from a source entitled 
to credit, that the British Government are making preparations 
for a Military Post at Woodstock, N. B. about twelve miles from 
our acknowledged boundary line, and that a considerable force 
will be stationed there, and the force at Fredericton is to be 
increased. I cannot but think that such tacts arc calculated to 
arouse the United States Government to immediate investigation 
and action. One PosI, as the inclosed paper suggests, may be 
advantageously established near the North West end of Moose 
Head Lake. This is a large sheet of water now navigated its 
whole length, forty seven miles, by a steam boat. This post may 
be important in connection witli the attempts to preserve neuti ality 
on our borders, as I understand there is a mountain pass near this 
place, which commands tlie passage to and from Canada. 1 would 
respectfully suggest for your consideration the expediency of 
causing an immediate reconnoisance and examination, by some 
scientitic and practical military men, of the interior of our State, 
for the purpose of fixing upon suitable locations for additional 
posts. I shall bo most happy to aid, in every way in my power, 
the Government of the United States in prosecuting such exam- 
ination. I will only add, that the people of this State feel a deep 
interest in the subject, and look with confidence to the Generaf 
Government, to take prompt measures for the defence of our 
frontier, and I therefore trust I shall be excused in earnestly 
calling your attention to the subject. 

I have the honor to be, 
very respectfully, 

vour obedient servant, 

EDWARD KENT. 



NO. 3. 

His Excellency Edward Kent, 

Governor of Maine: 

Dear Sir: — Permit me to call your attention to the subject o 
fortifications in our State. Our long disputed question of Boun- 
dary, as well as recent occurrences in neighboring provinces, 
should remind us of the importance of preparing such works as 



29 

may be necessary to the protection of our own soil, as well as the 
performance of our duties of neutralit} to foreign nations. 

Exposed as we are to foreign invasion, having a frontier on the 
seaboard and inland, of more than one thousand miles, and being 
almost entirely destitute of public works for defence; the propri- 
ety of calling upon the National Government to take measures 
for the projection and erection of such military establishments as 
our peculiar location requires, cannot be doubted. 

Our sea coast has been partially examined; and works in part, 
destined to protect this portion of our territory, have been pro- 
jected. The completion of these, and the erection of such oth- 
ers as are necessary to render our Atlantic border secure from 
hostile invasion^ are objects highly interesting to the people of our 
State. 

No military works have yet been erected on our inland frontier, 
with the exception of the small post at Houlton; and when it is 
considered that at many points on this extensive line we should be 
exposed to attack, in case of war with our northern neighbors, 
it would seem highly important, that measures should be adopted 
by the general government to render this portion of our State se- 
cure. 

The post at Houlton is an important location, and will, if its 
force is sufficiently increased, add greatly to the security of our 
eastern border. On this line we want another post at or near the 
Saint John's river; and one or more additional ones will be re- 
quired, when our northeastern boundary shall have been finally 
settled. 

But our most exposed point at this time, is on our northwestern 
frontier. We have no military establishment on any part of this 
line. Should our country ever again be at war with Great Brit- 
ain, the whole military force of that empire in North America 
might concentrate at Quebec. The country up the Chaudiere 
and Du Loup, nearly to the boundary line, is open, with good 
roads; and from thence an invading army might, by way of the 
valleys of our lakes and rivers, reach our towns on the Kennebec 
and Penobscot, as well as other parts of New England, with com- 
parative ease. A military post, therefore, at a point to guard the 
mountain pass between our State, and the province of Lower 
Canada, in this direction, is indispensable to the security of our 
State and nation. 

It is not known that any exploration has been made of this por- 
tion of our State by authority of the United States, with a view to 
the establishment of defensive works. 

Should the attention of the National Executive be called to this 
important subject, it is believed that a thorough examination of 
our inland frontier by those of suitable military and scientific 



30 

knowledge would he ordered, and that it would result in the es- 
tablishment of such posts as our situation demands. 
With respect, your obedient servant, 

A. B. THOMPSON, Adj. Gen'l. 
Adjutant General's Office, > 
Augusta, April 5, 1838. ) 

No. 4. 

War Department, } 
May 1st, 1838. ^ 
Sir: — The Secretary of War being still confined to his house 
by indisposition, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your Excellency's communication of the 5th ultimo, enclosing one 
from the Adjutant General of Maine. 

In reply 1 have the honor to inform you that measures will be 
taken for having the reconnoissance, recommended by you, made 
at as early a period as practicable, and as you kindly profier any 
aid in your power, the Oflicer who may be charged with this du- 
ty will be directed to apply to you should it become necessary. 
Very respectfully, vour most obt. svt. 

' S. COOPER, 

Acting Secretary of War. 
His Excellency En ward Kent, 

Governor of Maine, Augusta, Maine. 

No. 5. 
Head Quarteks of the Army, ) 
Washington, 1\Iay 12, 1838. I 

giP. ; — :I have received from the War Department a communi- 
cation addressed to the Secretary of War by His Excellency 
Edward Kent, Governor of the State of Maine, dated (he 5th of 
April 1838, covering a letter from the Adjutant General of that 
State to His Excellency on the subject of the defenceless con- 
dition of Blaine; copies of which papers are herewith transmitted 
for your information. 

You will, as soon as you are relieved from your present duties 
by Colonel Cummings, who will receive orders to that effect, 
repair to the State of Maine, and after making a reconnoisance 
with a view of ascertaining its military features and resources, 
project a plan for its defence by the establishment of such military 
posts and communications as may appear to you proper for the 
purpose, slating what points you may judge of the first import- 
ance and immediately to be attended, to and th' se of a secondary 
character, including arsenals and depots of arms and munitions; 
you will also state what in your opinion may be the necessary 
force for a peace and war establishment for that section of the 



31 

Jnion. I deem it unnecessary to be more particular, believing 
hat vou are well acquainted with the general object of tliis 
ommunication. 

Very respectfully, Sir, your obedient servant, 

(signed) A. MACOMB. 
BI. G. Com. Chief. 
Mg. Gen. J. E. Wool. 
Inspector General, 
Troy, New York. 



i 



No. 6. 

Head Quarters, ^ 

Bangor, Maine,, 26lh July, 1338. ^ 
To His Excellency Edward Kent, 

Governor of IMaine: 

Sir: — Having completed the military reconnoisance of the 
Frontier of IMaine, I shall take my departure tomorrow lor my 
residence at Troy, New York. 

I have already informed you of the posts I would establish for 
the defence of the frontier ofMain3. Viz — A post in the vicinity 
of Moose river on the Canada road, 14 miles from the line, witli 
an advance post on the height of land which divides Canada from 
IMaine. Kennebec forks I would recommend for a depot and 
place of concentration for the militia residing on the waters ofthc 
Kennebec. I would also, in case a road should be made to Moose 
Head Lake from Moose River, where the Canada road crosses 
jt, recommend an additional depot at the foot of Moose Head 
l^ake. I would increase the force at Houlton to five companies 
of Infantry and one of Artillery. I would establish eight compa- 
nies of Infantry and two of Artillery at Calais, and two companies 
of Infantry and one of Artillery at Eastport. An Arsenal at.or in 
the vicinity of Bangor, with fortifications at the entrances of the 
Penobscot and Kennebec rivers. Calais and the Maltawamkeag 
village I would designate as depots and places of concentration of 
the Blilitia residing on and east of the Penobscot river. 

The posts designated and the force suggested is wholly in re- 
ference to the present unsettled state of the boundary question, 
whicn I conceive involves considerations of the first importance, 
not only to Maine, but to the United States in general. In what- 
ever light the British Government may view the subject, it is well 
known that the inhabitants of New Brunswick and Lower Cana- 
da are determined upon having a large portion ofthc disputed tor- 
itory. This determination of the people of the two provinces 
.lay lead to war. Therefore until this question is settled, we 
♦ught to be prepared in some degree to defend that in which all 



32 

concur riglilfuUy belongs to tlin State of JMainc. My reasons for 
establishing a regiment of Infantry and three companies of Artil- 
lery at Calais and Eastport have been verbally communicated to 
your Kxccllency, and which I believe entirely met your approba- 
ion. 

With the above observations Iwould request from your Excel- 
ency, as soon as it can be done, a return of the number of mili- 
tiawhich could be concentrated in the course of ten or twenty 
days at the Kennebec forks, Mattawamkeag and Calais. In oth- 
er words, tlie militia force which could be concentrated in ten or 
twenty days at each of the above places without going beyond the 
lefiitimate range of each district. 

Please to direct your communication to me at Troy, New 
York. 

I have the honor to be, with considerations of the highest re- 
spect, Your most obedient servant, 

JOHN E. WOOL, 
Brig. Gen. U. S. Army. 



NO. 7. 

STATE OF MAINE. 

Executive Department, ) 
Augusta, August II, 1838. ) 

To Brigadier General, 
John E. Wool, U. S. Jlrmy. 

Sir: — In compliance with the request made in your communi- 
cation of the 26th ultimo, I have the honor to state, that after 
examining the inspection rolls and other returns of our Militia, 
and obtaining t!ie opinion of the Adjutant General of this State, 
I am of opinion that we could muster, in ten days after the issue 
of orders, the foUowing number of ]Militia Officers and Soldiers. 
Vjz. At (he Forks of the Kennebec, 4,500 

At T'tFettawamkeag, 4,000 

At Calais, 2,.500 

In twenty da- .-■ At the Forks, 12,000 

At Mettawamkeag, 10,000 

At Calais, ^>000. . . 

This calculiii^n is made upon the supposition that the Militia 
is called out 1;. Regiments and Brigades, and not drafted. In 
the latter cast 've could obtain the same number, but not in the 
same time. CJiu- whole number of Militia, by the last return, is 
over 41,000. The arms and equipmeuts of our Militia, now in 
U3C; are ngt ;^ui'.abIe for aUive service. The Muskets in paitic- 



i 



33 

ular, are too light and small and would not bear active use. We 
have however in our State Arsenal at Portland, 

9,000 Muskets, 
2,200 Rifles, 
350 Pistols, 
850 Ssvords, 
and a good supply of equipments, all suitable for use, furnished 
by the United States. The United States Arsenal at Augusta 
contains, as you know, a large number of Muskets and Rifles. 
I have the honor to be, with great respect, 
your obedient servant, 

EDWARD KENT. 



No. 8. 

STATE OF MAINE. 

Executive Department. ) 
Augusta, April 28, 1838. J 

To His Excellency Martin Van Buren, 

President of the U. States: 

Sii-: — I have the honor to enclose to you a copy of a Resolve 
of the Legislature of this State, in favor of Ebenezer S. Greely. 
Also a copy of a Resolve in favor of John Baker and others; and 
incompliance with the request of the Legislature, I ask of the 
Government of the United States a reimbursement of the several 
sums allowed thereby, which several sums have been paid by this 
State to the individuals named in the Resolves. The justice and 
propriety of granting this request, I can have no doubt, will be 
apparent to you and to Congress, when the circumstances under 
which the allowances were made are called to mind. Mr. Gree- 
ly, acting as Agent under a law of this State, authorising and di- 
recting a census to be taken in unincorporated places, was forci- 
bly seized and imprisoned for several months, and then, without 
trial, released. John Baker and his associates, named in the oth- 
er Resolves, suffered by imprisonment and otherwise, for acting 
under a law of this State, incorporating the town of Madawaska 
in 1831. The State of Maine has acknowledged, by these and 
other Resolves, its sense of obligation to remunerate, in the first 
instance these sufferers in its cause, and to satisfy, as far as it is 
able, their claims upon its justice. 

But the wrongs by which they suffered, were committed by a 
foreign power, with whom we arc now at peace. The State of 
Maine has no power to make war or authorise reprisals. She can 
only look to the General Government to assume the payment, as 



34 

an act of justice to a member of the Union, under the provisions 
of the Constitution, and to demand redress and remuneration from 
the authors of the wrong, in the name of the United States. A 
minute recapitulation of the facts, upon which these Resolves are 
foun'led is deemed entirely unnecessary and superfluous, as they 
have heretofore been communicated, and are well known to the 
Executive and to Congress. 

Maine has suffered too many repetitions of similar attempts to 
prevent her from enjoying her rightful possessions and enforcing 
her just claims, to feel indifferent on the subject; and we look 
with confidence to the General Government for protection and 
support. The amount of money although considerable, is of com- 
paratively small importance, when contrasted with the principles 
involved, and the effect which must result from an immediate and 
ready assumption of the liability on the part of the United States. 
Such an act would be highly gratifying to the people of this State, 
as evidence that their just claims and rights are fully recognised 
by the United States, and that the strong arm of the Union will 
be stretched out for their protection, in every lawful effort, to 
maintain and enforce their claims, which they know and feel to 
be just ana unimpeachable, and which they are determined to 
maintain. 

I trust I shall be pardoned for earnestly urging immediate ac- 
tion on this subject. 

I had the honor to inclose to you, under date of the 28th of 
March last, a copy of my message to the Legislature, and of the 
Resolves of the l^egislature of Maine, in relation to the North 
Eastern Boundary, which I have no doubt have received and will 
receive all the attention the importance of the subjects therein dis- 
cussed and acted on demands. You will perceive that in accord- 
ance with your wishes, I communicated the proposition, in rela- 
tion to a conventional line of boundary, with the letter of Mr For- 
syth, addressed to the Executive of Maine. The views and wish- 
es and determination of the Executive, and Legislature, and I 
think I may safely add, of the people of Maine, are fully and dis- 
tinctly set forth in the documents referred to, communicated to 
you heretofore by me. The proposition was distinct and defin- 
ite, and the answer is equally so, and I consider that it may be 
regarded as the fixed determination of Maine, to consent to no 
proposition on our part to vary the treaty line, but to stand by 
that line, as a definite, a practicable and a fair one, until its im- 
practicability is demonstrated. It is needless for me to recapitu- 
late the reasons upon which this determination is founded. I re- 
fer you to the documents before alluded to for my own views on 
this topic, sanctioned fully by the Legislature. The duty devolv- 
ing upon me by your request, I have endeavored to discharge, in a 
spirit of profound respect for the constituted officers of the Gener- 



35 

al Government, and with a single eye to the interests and honor 
of the United States and of the State of Maine. 

The attitude assumed by Maine, in relation to the survey of the 
line of the treaty of 1783, has doubtless attracted your attention. 
I feel it due to the State to say to you, frankly and unequivocally, 
that this position was taken deliberately and with a full consider- 
ation of all the circumstances of the case. But it was assumed 
in no spirit of defiance or resistance, and with no design to em- 
barrass the action of the General Government. Maine feels no 
desire to act alone or independently on this question. She knows 
and feels that it is a national question, and that it is the right and 
duty of the General Government to move forward in effecting the 
object proposed. I feel fully warranted in saying that Maine does 
not intend, by this expression of her determination to run the line 
in a certain contingency, to waive, in the least degree, her well 
founded claim upon the General Government to run, mark and 
establish it. On the contrary, she will m«st reluctantly yield the 
hope she now so strongly feels, that it is the intention of that gov- 
ernment to relieve her from the necessity of throwing herself up- 
on her own resources, to assert and defend her most unquestiona- 
ble rights. The wish of this State is, that the first act should be 
to run the line of the treaty of 1783, to ascertain the facts in rela- 
tion to the topography of the country, and the exact spot where 
the North West Angle of Nova Scotia may be found, according 
to our construction of the treaty language, and to place suitable 
monuments along the whole line. Such a survey would not set- 
tle or determine any rights, but it would express and declare our 
views and intentions. Such a survey is not a warlike or offensive 
movement, and cannot justly give offence to the other party in the 
controversy. 

It is the unquestionable right of litigants in a court of justice to 
make explorations of land in dispute, and if either party declines a 
joint survey, it may be made ex parte. And surely the United 
States have never so far yielded the actual possession to Great 
Britain, as to preclude the right, on our part, to ascertain for our- 
selves the absolute facts, and to mark out the limits of our claim 
and our alleged rights. 

This act Maine asks, and asks earnestly, the General Govern- 
ment to perform without delay. 

Such an assumption of the controversy, on the part of the Uni- 
ted States, would be to Maine an assurance that her rights were 
duly regarded and would be steadily and perseveringly maintained. 
We want the name and the authority of the United States, and 
there can be no doubt, that an act emanating from that source, 
would be regarded, by those interested on both sides, as of more 
im[)()rtance than any act of an individual State. So far then, from 
any indiflerence on the part of Maine, as to the action of the Gen- 



36 

eral Government, or any desire to be driven to assume the per- 
formance of the duty alluded 1o, she looks with intense anxiety 
and confident hope to be relieved from this position. She believes' 
it is alike due to the honor ofthe United States, and I'l c rights of 
Maine, that the General Government should go forward in the 
work, and that there is less to apprehend, in the result, from such 
a course, than any other. But Maine feels that the time lor de- 
cisive action has come, that she cannot be satisfied to have the 
claim to absolute and exclusive jurisdiction, of a large part of her 
territory, longer tolerated and acquiesced in. She knows that it 
rightfully belongs to her jurisdiction, that it is hers by a clear, 
perfect and honest title, as clear, as perfect and as rightful as her 
title to any portion ofthe State, and she cannot consent to have 
this title impaired or weakened by bold encroachments and un- 
scrupulous demands. She cannot consent that a title tran.smitted 
by the Fathers ofthe Revolution, shall be destroyed or defeated, 
by acquiescence in the adverse occupation of a foreign State, and 
that what was once fairly yielded shall be reclaimed, in utter de- 
fiance of a solemn deed of cession. 1 am confident I am not mis- 
taken in stating, that the Legislature of Maine considered the 
question as fairly and plainly before the National Government, 
and that if the present session of Congress should close with a de- 
nial, or postponement ofthe proposed survey, and no commission 
should be created by the Executive, as ciintemj)iated in the Reso- 
lution referred to, we should have a right, and be bound, to regard 
such delay or refusal as evidence of an indisposition on the i)art of 
the General Government to accede to our expressed views and 
A^ishes, and a denial of justice; and that Maine, in that event, owed 
it to herself to cause the survey to be made under 'her own au- 
thority. The duty of the Executive of JVIaine is plainly pointed 
out, and made imperative and absolute by the Resolves of the 
Legislature, and I certainly cannot hesitate, so far .-ss i liave the 
means and power, to execute their declared will. T!ie | oople of 
Maine, Sir, are not desirous of conflict or war. I'otii in their hab- 
its and their principles they love and wi.sh for peace and quiet 
within their borders. They are not ambitious to win laurels or to 
acquire military glory, by waging war with their neiglibnrs, and 
least of all are they desirous of a border warlare, which may be 
the means of sacrificing human life, and engendrring ill will and 
bad passions, without bringing the controversy to a conclusion. 
They are scattered over our thousand hills, engaged in their quiet 
and peaceful labors, and it is the first wish of their hearts, to live 
peaceably with all men and all nations. They have no anxiety to 
extend our limits, or to gain territory by conquest. Rut tliere is 
a firm and determined spirit in this people, which cannot brook 
insult, and will not submit to intentional injury, "They know 
their rights and knowing dare maintain them," with a calm deter- 



S7 

mination and deliberate purpose, and they appeal with unshrinking 
2ontidence to their Sister States, and to the Government which ^ 
binds liiem together, for effective support in this their purpose. 
The crisis, as we believe, demands firm and decided language, and 
the expression of a determined design. Maine has never refused 
to acquiesce in any fair and honorable mode of fi.xing the line ac- 
cording to the trcaiij of 1183. I have no doubt (but upon this point 
I speak according to my individual belief) that the mode proposed 
to Great Bri'ain. of establishing the treaty line upon the face of the 
earth, by a commission composed of impartial and scientific men, to 
be selected by a friendly power, would be satisfactory and acqui- 
esced in by this State, but that we should neither ask nor agree 
that any preliminary points should be yielded by either party. 

We should only ask that the treaty should be placed in their 
hands, with directions to ascertain, and run, and fix the line ac- 
cording to its plain language and obvious meaning. Maine can 
never consent, as I apprehend, to yield the main points of the case, 
and then refei it, to enable the judges to divide the subject matter 
of the controversy. 

We feel that we now stand on the high vantage ground of truth 
and justice, and that it cannot be that any nation, professing to act 
on the principles of right and equity, can stand up before the civ- 
ilized world, and contest, with unyielding pertinacity, our claim. 
We have too much respect for the nation from which we descend- 
ed, to believe that she will sully her reputation by such persever- 
ing resistance. I am conscious that the language and style of 
this communication are unusual, and probably undiplomatic; that 
there is more of the fervor of feeling, and tlie plain language of 
direct appeal, tlian is usual in such papers. But it is a subject of 
such vast importance to the Stat3, whose interests have been, in 
part, entrusted to me, and whose organ I am, that I cannot speak 
in measured terms or indefinite language. On this subject we 
have no ulterior views and no concealed objects. Our plans and 
our policy are open and exposed to the view of all men. Maine 
has nothing in either to conceal or to disguise. Sh<5 plainly and 
distinctly asks for a specific and definite action. In performing 
what I conceived to be my duty, 1 have been actuated by entire 
respect towards the General Government, and by the single desire 
to explain and enforce, as well as I was able, our wishes and our 
rights. I can only add, that we trust the General Government 
will assume the performance of the act specified in the Resolution, 
and relieve Maine from the necessity of independent action. 

With great respect, 

I have the honor to be. 

Your most obedient servant, 

EDWARD KENT. 



38 

No. 9. 

To His Excellency EDWARD KEJVT, 

Governor of Maine. 

Depart3ient of State, Wash- 
ington, Stii May, 1838. 
Sm: — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, on the 22d 
ultimo, of the communication addressed to this Department by 
your Excellency on the 28th of March last, transmitting a printed 
copy of your Message of the 14th of the same month to the 
Legislature of Maine, together with certain Resolves passed by 
that body, in relation to the Northeastern Boundary of the State. 
Although the answer thus given to the application made to you 
by direction of the President, under date of the 1st of March 
last to ascertain the sense of the State of Maine in regard to ^ 
conventional line of boundary, may be regarded as conclusive, 1 
still deem it proper, with reference to your Excellency's Message, 
to mark a misconception which appears to have existed on your 
part, when communicating to the Legislature the letter and 
documents received from this Department. This is done with 
the greater freedom since the frank and liberal manner in which 
your Excellency invited the attention of that body to the subject, 
is highly appreciated by the President. The question therein 
presented for consideration, was not as your Excellency supposed, 
whether the State of Maine should " take the lead in abandoning 
the treaty, and volunteer propositions for a conventional line;" 
but, simply, whether the Government of Maine would consent 
that the General Government should entertain a direct negotia- 
tion with the British Government for a conventional line of 
boundary on the northeastern frontier of the United States. Had 
that consent been given, it would have been reasonable to expect 
the proposition of a line from Great Britain, as it was that Power 
which particularly desired the resort to that mode of settling tho 
controversy. It was, also, the intention of the President so to 
arrange the negotiation that the approbation of Maine to the 
boundary line agreed upon should have been secured. It wai 
witli this view, that, in the application to the State of Maine fo 
its assent to a negotiation for a conventional line, express refer 
ence was made to such conditions as she might think proper tt 
prescribe. To all such as were, in the opinion of the President 
required by a proper regard for the security of Maine, and con- 
sistent with the Constitution, he would have yielded a readj 
assent. Of that character was he disposed to regard a condition 
that, in a negotiation for the final establishment of a new line, 
with power on the part of the negotiators to stipulate for the 
cession or exchange of territory, as the interests and convenienct 
of the parties might be found to require, — the State of Maine 



39 

should be represented by Commissioners of her own selection, 
and that their previous assent should be requisite to make any 
treaty containing such stipulation, binding upon her. These 
suggestions are not now made as matter of complaint at the de- 
cision which the State of Maine has come to, on a matter in 
which she was at perfect liberty to pursue the course she has' 
adopted, but in justice to the views of the President in making 
the application. 

I am instructed to announce to your Excellency, that, by 
direction of the President, upon due consideration of the result 
of the late application of the General Government to the State 
of Maine on the subject of the North Eastern Boundary, and in 
accordance with the e.vpressed wishes of her Legislature, I have 
informed Mr. Fox of the willingness of this Government to enter 
into an arrangement with that of Great Britain for the establish- 
ment of a Joint Commission of Survey and Exploration upon the 
basis of the original American proposition and the modifications 
offered by Her JNIajesty's Government; and to apprize you that 
Mr Fox, being at present unprovided with full powers for nego- 
tiating the proposed convention, has transmitted my communication 
to his Government, in order that such fresh instructions may be 
furnished to him, or such other steps taken as may be deemed 
exjiedient en its part. 

I have the honor to be, 
with great respect. 

Your Excellency's ob't servant. 

JOHN FORSYTH. 



NO. 10. 

STATE OF MAIiNE. 

Executive Department, 
June 9, 1838. 

Sir: — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
communication of the 8th of May last in relation to the inter- 
esting subject of our Northeastern Boundary. 

1 feel great gratification that the manner in wliich I commu- 
nicated the contents of your former note to the Legislature was 
acceptable to the President, and 1 regret that I did, in the view 
of the President, misapprehend, in any particular, the import 
and bearing of the propositions in your communication. 

As no specific proposition was made to Maine, and no ne- 
gotiation for any definite and expressed line of boundary was 
pending between the LTnited States Government and the Gov- 
ernment of Great Britain, and as the negotiation seemed to 



40 

be at a stand, it appeared to me, if Maine then agreed to give 
an unlimited and general power to the President to fix any con- 
ventional boundary that might be agreed upon, that she would 
" take the lead in abandoning the treaty and volunteer proposi- 
tions for a conventional line." But I do not think it necessary 
or advisable to pursue this topic at more length, when other 
points of much greater importance are claiming attention, and 
when 1 feel full assurance, if I have mistaken the import of the 
propositions, or used too strong language in expressing my views 
of them, that my errors have been ])roductive of no evil ef- 
fects, as all the documents and facts upon which my opinion 
was founded were laid before the Legislature and the Ameri- 
can people. 

The decision of Maine, I am confident, was based, not so 
much upon objections to the lime and mode, as upon an insu- 
perable repugnance to departing from the plain language of the 
treaty. 

The information contained in your communication that, " by 
direction of the President, upon due consideration of the result 
of the late application of the General Government to the State 
of Maine, on the subject of the Northeastern Boundary, and in 
accordance with the expressed wishes of her Legislature, I have 
informed Mr. Fox of the willingness of this Government to en- 
ter into an arrangement with that of Great Britain for the estab- 
lishment of a joint commission of survey and exploration upon 
the basis of the original American proposition and the modifi- 
cations offered by Her Majesty's Government," is highly im- 
portant and interesting and demands from me something more 
than a passing notice. 

If, by the foregoing statement, I am to understand that the 
original proposition and the modifications of Her Majesty's 
Government are to be consolidated into one, and be made the 
absolute terms of a convention and an agreement between the 
two nations, without other discussion than such as is necessary 
to ascertain what those modifications in fact are, as they have 
been from time to time developed, 1 cannot but feel some 
surprise that the President should find in the recorded action 
of the Legislature of Maine, authority to justify the belief that 
the recent proposition for such a joint commission of survey 
and exploration is in accordance with the expressed wishes of 
the Legislature of Maine. I confess that I have never so 
understood or so construed (he action of that body. I have 
never for a moment supposed that the Legislature of Maine 



41 

intended to express any such will, or to ask for any such pro- 
positions to be made. 

If the meaning and intention of the General Government, 
as expressed in the proposition to Her Majesty's Government, 
is simply that the negotiation shall be opened upon that basis, 
and the terms of the convention shall be discussed and deter- 
mined without any reference to the previous terms and modifi- 
cations, except as evidence of the wishes and propositions of 
each party, heretofore made, I still feel it to be a duty which 
I owe to the State and to the President to express unreserved- 
ly and frankly my views of the wishes and intentions of the 
Legislature and the people of Maine, upon this important topic. 

1 cannot believe that in either aspect of the case the Presi- 
dent will deem it intrusive or indecorous for me to give, as 
well as I am able, these views. 

If any apology is needed, I trust it will be found in the im- 
portance of the subject to Maine, and in the paramount feeling 
which urges me to neglect no opportunity to place the subject 
before the General Government in what I deem its true light. 

The President, I cannot doubt, will be anxious to ascertain 
the opinions and wishes of INIaine before entering into definite 
arrangements, and will give to them the consideration and weight 
to which they are justly entitled. 

If the Legislature had been in session, I should of course 
have left it to that department to express its own views; but as 
the two branches composing the Legislature have separated, 
the duty appears to devolve upon the tixecutive to speak in be- 
half of the whole State. 

The original American proposition, as I understand it, is 
contained in the note of Mr Livingston to Mr Vaughan, of the 
30th of April, 1833, in these words: "All the disadvantages 
of these modes of settlement, heretofore adopted, might, as it 
appears to the American Government, be avoided by appoint- 
ing a new commission, consisting of an equal number of com- 
missioners, with an umpire selected by some friendly Sover- 
eign from among the most skillful men in Europe, to decide on 
all points in which they disagree, or by a commission entirely 
composed of such men, so selected, to be attended in the sur- 
vey and view of the country, by agents appointed by the par- 
ties. 

"Impartiality, local knowledge, and high professional skill, 
would thus be employed, which, though heretofore separately 
called into the service, have never before been combined for 
3 



42 

the solution of the question." This is the proposition to which 
I referred in my message to the Legislature, as being, in my 
view, "equitable and lair and just to all parties, and full of 
promise of adjustment upon proceedings satisfactory to us," 
and also in my letter to the President of the 28th of April 
last. 

Accompanying this proposition is the suggestion in relation 
to a mode of survey, provided the natural object referred to is 
not found in the course specified in the treaty, ending with the 
allegation, that, "if after more accurate survey shall have been 
made, it should be found that the north course from the head of 
the St. Croix should not reach the highlands which answer the 
description of those designated in the Treaty of 1783, then a di- 
rect line from the head of the St Croix, whatever may be its di- 
rection, to such highlands, ought to be adopted, and the line 
would still be conformable to the treaty." 

The first departure from the language of this communication 
from Mr Livingston, was by himself, in his note of the 28th of 
May, 1833, to Mr Vaughan, in which he modifies the sugges- 
tion before made of running the line to the highlands, whatever 
may be its direction, by admitting that the American Govern- 
ment makes no pretension further east than a due north line; 
but, if the highlands of the Treaty are not found in such line, 
then the search to be confined to the westward. 

Whatever decision Maine migiit make upon the original pro- 
position, unaccompanied by any suggestion, or the subsequent 
modification of the suggestion, it is difficult to perceive any rea- 
son, whether we regard it as a matter of strict law or liberal 
equity, why such a mode should be adopted, or why such a re- 
striction should be imposed, or such directions given, that one 
party should certainly gain, and the other certainly lose by de- 
parting from the treaty line. 

If this modification of Mr Livingston's first suggestion is to 
be regarded as belonging in any shape to the original American 
proposition referred to in your last note to me, I am confident 
that Maine will the more earnestly and inflexibly object to the 
proposition without reference to the modifications offlsred by 
the Government of Great Britain. 

I have felt it to be my duty to say thus much in relation to 
"the original American proposition," to guard against any mis- 
conception on that topic. 

But the General Government has expressed to that of Great 
Britain a willingness to establish a joint commission of survey 



43 

and exploration, upon the basis of the original American propo- 
sition and the modifications offered by Her Majesty's Govern- 
ment. 

If I rightly understand, the American proposition relates to 
the creation of a commission, and the modifications have rela- 
tion to the mode of creation, and the powers and duties to be 
prescribed. 1 confess I am at a loss to understand fully what 
modifications are now insisted upon and intended to be recog- 
nised by the American Government as forming a basis for the 
arrangement. 

Mr Fox, in his note of the first of May last, confines them 
to those suggested in his note of the 10th of January last; but 
as that note expresses the reluctant assent of Her Majesty's 
Government to such commission, "if the principle upon which 
it is to be formed, and the manner in which it is to proceed, 
can be satisfactorily settled," it seems to leave room for the 
assertion of all prior claims, and the demand for all prior mod- 
ifications. 

It is needless for me to recapitulate them, made, as they 
have been, at different times and in different connections, but 
all, as it seems to me, tending to the obliteration of the treaty 
line, and evincing an anxious desire to avoid any negotiation or 
arrangement having that line for its basis. 

It can be hardly necessary for me to say, after the explicit 
rejection, by the United States, of the modifications hereto- 
fore offered, that the State of Maine, in my opinion, will never 
consent to yield the points, that the treaty line is impracticable, 
or that the northwest angle of Nova Scotia cannot be found, 
and does not exist, or that the Restigouche and Saint John's 
are not Atlantic Rivers, and that the Highlands must be looked 
for south of those rivers — or that the adviee of the Umpire 
and his suggestions are to be taken as decisions upon prelimin- 
ary points, although both parties agreed that upon the main 
point referred he has given no decision. 

It would certainly be very remarkable if Maine should assent 
to such modifications, after the very clear reasons of rejection 
given by the Secretary of State of the United States in his 
answers thereto, as they have been presented. 

Another modificalion of more recent date, but to my mind 
equally if not more objectionable than any former one, is that 
again suggested in Mr Fox's note of the tenth of January last, 
that, " in order to avoid all fruitless disputes, as to the char- 
acter of such Highlands, the Commissioners should be instruct- 



44 

ed to look for Highlands whicli both parties might acknowledge 
as fulfilling the conditions of the treaty." It certainly, at first 
view, strikes one as somewhat singular, that, in propounding 
the terms for a mutual submission for determining points oi 
difference, one party should stipulate that the Commission 
should be limited to decide only upon the contingency that 
both parlies should acknowledge the decision as correct, or, 
as in this case, fix upon the Highlands the location of which is 
in dispute, provided both parties should first acknowledge them 
as fulfilling the conditions of the treaty. 

A plain and unsophisticated man would naturally ask what 
beneficial result could be anticipated from such a submission, 
and what reason could be given for constituting such a mere 
ministerial and not judicial board. 

A close examination of the map and the surface of the 
country will, however, 1 think, at once show the dangerous 
and alarming nature of this apparently mere suicidal modifica- 
tion. Both parties would probably agree that the Highlands 
on the west line of Maine, as far as some point between the 
46th^ and 47th'=' of latitude "fulfilled the conditions of the 
treaty," dividing the waters of the Saint Lawrence from those 
of the Kennebec and Penobscot. But here the agreement 
would be at an end. 

If by the terms of the Convention the Highlands were to 
be those which both parties should acknowledge, and the^ 
dividing line should be run from the monument at the head of 
the Saint Croix to the point of agreement, a glance at the map 
will show that such a line would probably be nearly due tcest, 
instead of north, and deprive Maine of more territory than any 
other claim yet made. Into such a league, with great confi- 
dence, I say, Maine can never come. 

In relation to the proposed departure from the treaty line, 
in search of Highlands west thereof, the Legislature of Maine, 
in 1837, accepted a report of a joint committee in which this 
subject, in connection with other topics, is fully discussed, and 
the proposition treated as one utterly unjust and inadmissible. 
In the Message of the present Governor to the Legislature, 
accompanying the documents transmitted by the Secretary of 
State, a copy of which I had the honor to transmit, under 
date of the 2Sth of March last, and which is referred to in 
your last note, after speaking of the original American propo- 
sition, unmodified and uncontrolled, as equitable and fair, the 
following opinion of the modifications, as understood, was 



45 

expressed : "But although it was entertained, the answer to 
it clogged the proposition with so many conditions, and so 
limited the powers of the commissioners, and required the 
concession on our part of the all important fact that the Saint 
John's and Restigouche are not Atlantic Rivers — that the 
original plan was at once deprived of all vitality or power, or 
use, and in fact the reference would have been merely an 
agreement to abide by the decision, provided both parties 
should be satisfied and assent to it." 

The Committee of the two branches of the Legislature to 
whom this Message and other documents were referred, made 
a report thereon, in which, speaking of the proposed negotia- 
tion for a conventional line, and also of the commission of 
survey as modified, the committee say: "To such a conven- 
tional line, or to such a commission of survey, we believe the 
people of this State are not prepared to assent. They ask, 
and they think they have a right to demand, that after a lapse 
of more than half a century, the eastern line of our State, in 
its whole extent, shall be run and established according to the 
treaty of 1783. 

"The Governor's Message communicating Mr Forsyth's 
letter contains, as your committee believe, sound views and 
doctrines, and will be responded to by every chizen of Maine." 

This report, it is true, was not accepted in the Senate, 
although it was signed by each individual member of the com- 
mittee, and was accepted in the popular branch without 
division. I hazard little, however, in saying that no objection 
was made from any quarter to this part of the report. And 
it will be seen that by the last resolve which passed both branch- 
es, the Governor is requested to send a copy of the before 
named Message to the President and Heads of Departments. 
I mention this circumstance as evidence that the Legislature 
concurred with the Executive in his expressions of disappro- 
bation of the proposition as modified. 

I make no mention in this connection of the expression of 
my views upon this topic in the communication which I had 
the honor to make to the President, under the date of the 28th 
of April, as that letter was dated the day after the communi- 
cation by you to IMr Fox, and of course made no part of the 
evidence upon which that opinion was formed, "that the pro- 
position was in accordance with the expressed wishes of the 
Legislature of Maine." 



46 

I will only say that I have seen no reason to change the 
views therein expressed. 

I believe that the survey intended by the Legislature, in the 
resolve providing for a survey of the treaty line by the author- 
ity of this Slate, upon certain contingencies, is such a survey 
as is provided in the bill now before Congress, or as contem- 
plated in the original American proposition, without modifica- 
tions or restrictions, as I have before stated. 

I understand the Legislature to contemplate three difterent 
modes of Survey, either of which would come within the 
meaning of the resolve — one as provided in the pending bill — 
one by a joint commission with Maine — and one by a joint 
commission with Great Britain. 

If the latter mode is adopted, Maine certainly asks that it 
shall not be merely a commission without powers to determine 
any thing, and especially that the concession of vital prelimin- 
ary points shall not precede the establishment of such a com- 
mission. 

A commission for a joint exploration and examination, with- 
out power of determination upon any point, and without either 
party yielding any points, or granting any positions, wiih direc- 
tions to examine and run any lines or courses which either 
party might request, and to report jointly or severally the 
result of their labors, would, in my apprehension, be far less 
objectionable, than the original American proposition with the 
modifications of the British Government incorporated or 
engrafted thereon. 

The survey first named would be nearly similar to the last 
in the extent of power and probability of determining the con- 
troversy, and be free from the very objectionable conditions 
and concessions demanded by the modifications referred to. 

But Maine would feel a strong, if not insuperable objection 
to a mere reconnoisance and examination, on account of the 
delay and embarrassment and injury to her interests, which 
would thereby be occasioned. 

The valiiiihie timber on the disputed territory is daily dimin- 
ishing; and from authentic sources I learn that a vast amount 
is annually, without license, cut and carried away, and no 
account tak' ti. 

Delay, which to one party seems desirable, is objectionable 
to us. 

After fir:\-five years of procrastination, it would seem 
reasonable ic ask that whatever movement is made, should 



47 

have a direct and unavoidable tendency towards a final set- 
tlement. 

Whilst, therefore, Maine is anxious for a joint or separate 
survey, which shall result in some definite and positive advance- 
ment in the settlement, u[)on equal and equitable terms, upon 
the treaty basis, she is not wilhng to join in proceedings which, 
when ended, will leave the parties on the same spot from which 
they started, and she most solemnly protests against the pre- 
liminary conditions and vital modifications of Her Majesty's 
Government. 

I have thus, sir, given you my views of the wishes and 
expectations of Maine, in frank and undisguised language, and 
with an anxious desire to put you in possession of my under- 
standing of the feelings and intentions of the Legislature and 
people. 

I speak confidently, but I believe safely, in thus expressing 
myself. 

I will only add that the passage of the law now before Con- 
gress, and the assumption of the duty therein specified by the 
Government of the United States, would be highly satisfactory 
to the people of Maine. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient 
servant. 

(Signed) EDWARD KENT. 
Hon. John Forsyth, 
Secretary of State, U. S. 



No. 11. 



Department of State, ) 

Washington, 26th June, 1838. ] 
His Excellency, Edward Kent, 

Governor of the State of Maine. 
Sir: — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
I'^xcellency's communication of the 9th instant. As it is obvious 
from its context that, at the date of it, your Excellency had not 
been made acquainted with a letter on the same subject which I 
addressed on the 26th of last m^nth to the Honorable Reuel 
Williams, one of the Senators in Congress from the State of 
Maine, I transmit to your Excellency the enclosed copy of that 
letter. 

I am, Sir, with great respect, your Excellency's obedient serv't. 

JOHN FORSYTH. 



48 

No. 12. 

Department of State, ) 

Washington, 26th May, 1838. \ 
Hon. Reuel Williams, 
U. S. Senate. 

Sir: — I have liad the honor to receive your letter of the 24th 
inst. and to state in reply that from the negotiation to which the 
British Government has been invited, the President anticipates the 
establishment of a joint commission, with an Umpire whoso 
power, will be restricted to the purpose of explanation and survey 
only, without authority finally to decide upon the rights of the 
parties as contemplated in the original American proposition. 
The suggestions that have been made on either side with respect 
to the mode of constituting that commission, the principles upon 
which it is to act, and the instructions to be given to it, are all to 
bo discussed and decided ui)on, as justice between the parties and 
their respective rights shall be deemed to require. 

The object of the President in offering to make such an ar- 
rangement, as you will see in my note to Mr. Fox of the 27th of 
April last, is to test the correctness of the opinion of the State of 
Maine that the line described in the Treaty of 1783, can be 
found and traced whenever the Governments of the United States 
and Great Britain, slinll proceed to make the requisite investiga- 
tion with a predisposition to effect the desired object. 

I have the honor to be. Sir, your obedient servant. 

JOHN FORSYTH. 



No. 13. 

In Council, April 25, 1838. 

Whereas the Governor has been requested by the Legislature 
to demand of the General Government repayment of certain 
sums paid by this State, to Ebenezer S. Greeley, and John Baker 
and others, for their services and sufferings in connection with 
the Boundary question between the United States and Maine on 
the one part, and Great Britain and New Brunswick on the 
other; and whereas the State of Maine feels a deep interest in 
whatever relates to said question, and particularly the action of 
Congress and the Executive of the United States, at the present 
time, upon this vitally important subject, and is anxious that every 
effort should be made to induce the General Government to 
assume the position which is required to maintain the interests 
and rights of this State and the honor of the United States — 
therefore 



49 

Ordered, That a Special Messenger and Agent be appointed 
to bear the aforesaid request for remuneration and such other 
dispatches, as may be delivered him by the Governor, to Wash- 
ington; and that said Agent be further authorized to remain at 
Washington, under the direction of the Governor, to use his 
best endeavors, in conjunction with our Senators and Represen- 
tatives, to obtain the passage of the Bill, now before Congress, 
relative to running the Boundary Line; to enforce upon the 
General Government the necessity of immediately taking meas- 
ures to erect Fortifications upon our Frontier and Seaboard, and 
to establish Military Posts in the interior of our State, and for 
the location and construction of a Military Road leading to Mad- 
awaska; and generally to execute such duties as may be specified 
in instructions from the Governor in relation to the pending 
questions. 

And Charles S. Daveis, Esq., of Portland, in the County of 
Cumberland, was by the Governor, with the advice and consent 
of the Council, appointed Special Messenger and Agent to 
Washington for the purposes specified in the foregoing order. 



No. 14. 

STATE OF MAINE. 

Executive Department, 
Augusta, April 30, 1838. 
To Charles S. Daveis, Esq. 

Sir: — You having been, by the Governor with advice of Coun- 
cil, appointed Special Agent to co-operate with the Delegation 
of this State in Congress, in forwarding the interest of Main© 
in relation to certain subjects connected with the question relative 
to the North Eastern Boundary, will, if you accept the appoint- 
ment, proceed to Washington, with as much dispatch as your 
convenience will admit, and enter upon the discharge of your 
duties. The mode and manner of operation is left to your own 
judgment and discretion. The first and leading object of your 
mission is lo enforce the necessity and expediency of some 
effective measures, on the part of the General Government, in 
relation to running the line, in the manner, and at the time, 
contemplated and expressed in the Bill now before Congress. 
And you are authorized to use strong and decided language in 
relation to the determination of Maine, to move forward upon 
her own responsibility, if the United States refuse or neglect to 
provide for, and execute, the proposed Exploration and Survey. 
In connexion with, and as auxilliary to the same subject matter, 
you will call the attention of the proper authorities to theRe&olvesi. 



52 

ry Question between the United States and Maine on the one 
part, and Great Britain and New Brunswick on the other, 
declared the deep interest which the State felt in whatever 
related to that question, and particularly in regard to the action 
of Congress and the Executive of the United States, at the 
existing period, upon this vitally important subject ; and 
expressed its anxiety, especially, that every effort should be 
made to induce the General Government to assume the posi- 
tion, which was required to maintain the rights and interest of 
this State, and the honor of the United States. 

The duties marked out in my commission were, to bear to 
the City of Washington the application from yourself to the 
General Government for repayment of certain sums of money 
paid to Ebenezer S. Greeley, John Baker, and others, by 
virtue of certain Resolves of the Legislature, at its late session, 
in their favor, and there to remain under your direction; to use 
my best endeavors, in conjunction with our Senators and 
Representatives, to obtain the passage of the Bill, then before 
Congress, relative to running the North Eastern Boundary 
line of this State ; to enforce upon the General Government 
the necessity of taking immediate measures to erect fortifica- 
tions upon the frontier and the seaboard, and to establish military 
posts in the interior, and a military road to Madawaska, and, 
finally, to fulfil your instructions in regard to subjects before 
Congress, in which our State was interested. 

In those instructions, in which you repeated and enforced 
the leading objects of the mission, you thought proper to leave 
room for the office of judgment and discretion, as occasion 
should exist, upon advice with the delegation from the State 
in Congress. 

In obedience to these directions, I proceeded to Washing- 
ton, as soon as it was in my power. I delivered the letter 
addressed by you to the President of the United States, 
relating to the purposes of my appointment, on the tenth of 
May, and entered immediately on its duties and services. 

1 lost no time in soliciting the allowance of the claims, made 
by the State for the payment to the several persons mentioned in 
the Resolves, on account of injuries and sufferings experienced 
by them, in consequence of certain civil duties undertaken to 
be performed, or submission to foreign rule refused, by them, 
respectively, within the rightful precincts of the State. I had 
several interviews with the Secretary of State for this purpose. 

It was not considered by the Secretary, in reply to this 



53 

application, that the President had the power to make any 
such allowances, properly, without the actual authority of 
Congress, and specific appropriations for that purpose. The 
example of an allowance of a similar kind, made at an earlier 
period, on account of Baker, seemed to be the point for me to 
recur to, in support of the authority exercised, in that instance, 
under the provision made by Congress, for incidental purposes 
pertaining to foreign relations, understood to be at Executive 
discretion. It was deemed fit to advert, likewise, to the de- 
mand, which the President had directed to be made upon 
Great Britain for the liberation of Greely from his imprison- 
ment in New Brunswick, together with an indemnity for the 
wrong, conformable to the course adopted in the same case of 
Baker. This reclamation was viewed as at once recognizing 
the cause of the complaint, and seeming to assume the subject 
of it, in its public and national character. 

These reasons for the allowance of those payments, although 
not disregarded, were not sufficient to prevail with the Execu- 
tive department in the first instance. But the application was, 
after some short postponement to afford opportunity for exami- 
nation, referred to the consideration of Congress : And it was 
made the subject of a special communication to both branches 
in the ordinary manner, and submitted to their decision, with 
an allusion, simply, to the circumstances connected with it, 
contained in your letter, which was transmitted at the same time. 

Perhaps it may be proper to remark, further, in relation to 
the course pursued by the Executive upon the subject of this 
request, that a similar application had been made on behalf of 
the State by your Immediate predecessor in office, to the Gov- 
ernment of the United States for a reimbursement of not much 
amount, without success. It was referred, in the same manner, 
to the consideration of a former Congress, where it was com- 
mitted in the House of Representatives, to the Committee of 
Foreign Relations; and upon an iinfarorable leport in regard to 
its merits, rejected. Against th s recent precedent, it may be 
noticed, an actual prior allowance of expenditures of a similar 
nature, by the authority of Congress itself, was not recognized 
as of any avail, if it was taken into view by the Committee. 
The present claim was consequently objected to, when called 
up in the House of Representatives, on a motion from our del- 
egation, and was opposed by the Chairman of the Committee 
upon the same grounds, which had been urged with effect to 
defeat the former. It was therefore laid upon the table, and 
there suffered to rest until the close of the session. The man- 



54 

ner, in which it was then revived, and fortunately received the 
eventual sanction of Congress, with that of the Executive also, 
remains to be related in its place. 

Before dismissing this topic, however, for the present, it 
may be proper likewise to observe, that the immediate claim 
not being of great magnitude, nor the amount regarded as by 
any means of the principal moment, it was not thought expedi- 
ent, in the united view entertained of the subject by the dele- 
gation, to press it in any manner to interfere with the success 
of objects of more special and paramount importance. As a 
reason at the same time for not losing sight of this point, be- 
sides the positive charge I had received upon it, it must be 
sufHciently apparent, that ihe real interest of the State was less 
in obtaining the repayment of any mere sum of money, to 
which it was entitled, than in gaining the recognition of the 
rightful ground of its claim for protection and support against 
external aggression, which was presented in this form, and which 
would necessarily he inferred by its adoption. There can be 
no need to observe, that so just and important a view of the 
subject in all its proper bearings, could not, at any time, escape 
attentive, and intelligent, consideration. 

By the terms of your instructions it was made the first and 
leading object of my mission to urge the necessity, as well as 
expediency, of some efTective measures on the part of the 
General Government, in relation to running the hne in the man- 
ner proposed by the BiJ] before Congrpss. 

In regard to this Bill, which formed so prominent a point in 
my commission and instructions, I have to observe, at the out- 
set, that a new aspect was placed upon the state of the question, 
pending before Congress in that shape, soon after my arrival 
This was in consequence of a step which, it proved, had 
just been taken by the Executive, in virtue of his constitution- 
al power, to open another negotiation upon the subject. It 
appeared by information, verbal to me In the first place, and 
understood from the Secretary of State to have been lately 
conveyed to yourself, and which was soon after communicated 
to Congress, that a correspondence had recently been com- 
menced between the Secretary of State and the British INIinlster 
at Washington, with a view to forming a provisional arrangement, 
in reference to a mutual survey for the future establishment of 
the boundary line. This step, it may be presumed, was taken 
in consequence of the Resolutions of the State in answer to 
the course pursued by, and through, the Central Government, 



/ 



65 

to obtain the sense of Maine upon the precise question, wheth- 
er its consent would be accorded to the establishment of a 
conventional line. Comparing the dates of this correspond- 
ence between Mr. Forsyth and Mr. Fox with the proceedings 
in Council, it appears that they were almost simultaneous. I 
nake reference to this circumstance, more particularly, as the 
}ffect of it undoubtedly was to anticipate the immediate and 
nost urgent object of my appointment and instructions, so far, 
hat is to say, as related to the prospect of the measure in con- 
emplation before Congress at that time, so strongly recom- 
lended by yourself also, in your letters to the delegation and 
the President. 

It cannot be necessary, therefore, to remark, that this new 
late of negotiation was not known in Maine at the period of 
ly appointment and proceeding to Washington. Nor was it 
istinctly understood by the delegation of the State, generally, 
ntJ the communication, which was made to Congress, of this 
orrespondence by the President, together with your letter to 
imself, on the twenty-third of May. 

The circumstances, character and effect of this correspon- 
ence became at once, as might be supposed, the subject of 
ery considerable interest and concern. Solicitude was natur- 
ily excited to ascertain as nearly as possible, the tendency and 
ifluence of its language in settling the terms of the proposed 
rrangement; and what effect, moreover, the information would 
e likely to have upon the fate of the Bill itself before Con- 
ess. 

The arrangement to be entered into with Great Britain, for 
le establishment of a joint commission of survey and explora- 
on, was expressed to be upon the basis of the original Ameri- 
an proposition and the modifications offered by the British 
Tovernment. 

In avowing the anxiety, that was felt by those who were con- 
erned on behalf of Maine, at the broad and alarming extent of 
lese apparently uncertain and mdefinite expressions, it may 
e allowable to advert, with freedom and plainness, under 
our permission, to the immediate grounds of apprehension. 

It may be acknowledged that this was occasioned, principal- 
r, by the extraordinary, not to say unwarrantable, looseness of 
le language employed by Mr Livingston, in the mode of con- 
eying what was taken to be intended, as the original American 
reposition. 
4s that p -"•irMi has been uniformly understood and in- 



56 

terpreted, in immediate connection with the idea advanced by 
Mr Livingston for the solution of the question, it deserted the 
true North Hne of the Treaty of 1783, and abandoned the 
Northwest angle of Nova Scotia, in pursuit of some chimerical 
object, assumed as a natural monument, which was nowhere 
defined to exist, nor is capable of being found to this day, with 
any more certainty, in any other direction, than as laid down in 
the plain language of that Treaty. The renewal of it in those 
words, seemed the more remarkable, also, as the British Gov- 
ernment did not concur in the view of it presented by Mr Liv- 
ingston, nor recognise the correctness of the principle assumed 
by him, and which was so earnestly pressed in its practical ap- 
plication to the point in controversy, as possessing the charac- 
ter either of scientific accuracy or historical authenticity, which 
he attached to it; but they pronounced it at once to be a depar- 
ture from the Treaty line, and to amount to xhe establishment 
of a conventional one; and considered it as coming, therefore, 
within the scope of the constitutional difficulty raised on the 
part of Maine. It appeared the more singular, again, inasmuch 
as the present Secretary of State, who, it must be owned, took 
up the subject in entering upon the duties of his department, 
under disadvantageous circumstances, had certainly seemed to 
have done much, in the course of the subsequent correspon- 
dence conducted by him, to rectify the palpable error of Mr 
Livingston, and retrieve the direction of the Treaty line from 
the strange obliquity into which it had been unadvisedly be- 
trayed, and in which it had become so hopelessly involved, by 
this unfounded and most unfortunate supposition. It is perfect- 
ly plain by the treaty definition, that no other specific natural 
or visible object was in view, except the North Pole, or the 
North Star; apart, that is to say, from that general feature in 
the formation of the earth, by wliich water is turned away and 
made to flow in different directions. It was by the combina- 
tion of these two single rules, given by the treaty description, 
to wit, this distinct geographical division of waters and the 
due North direction, only, that we could expect to arrive at the 
exact mathematical point, or angle designated with so much 
precision in the treaty of 1783; and which coincides, so literal- 
ly, with the limit established in the same manner by Great Bri- 
tain, for the boundary of her contiguous Provinces. It was 
most manifest, that the object proposed by the treaty, whether 
more or less conspicuous on the face of the Eartii, would nev- 
er be reached in any other direction. It was thought the more 



57 

surprising, therefore, after all that had thus taken place, that 
any further countenance should be lent to the revival of JMr 
Livingston's original proposition, so much in the gross, as the 
basis ot a new negotiation, and tliat, too, not merely as he had 
enunciated it, without qualification, (except as, afterwards, to 
the East) but as it was compHcated still further by the addi- 
tional conditions and stipulatoons, which the policy of the Brit- 
ish Government had constantly sought to attach to it, and which 
they had insisted upon, unsuccessfully, through a long series of 
diplomatic schemes and discussions. 

It is undoubtedly true, that the simple original scheme of Mr 
Livingston for instituting an impartial scientific commission, or 
tribunal, for the determination of this protracted controversy, 
is entirely capable of being discriminated, as it has been con- 
sidered by yourself, both in your communications to the Legis- 
lature, and in your correspondence with the Secretary of State, 
and of being detached from the gratuitous and speculative ex- 
pedient suggested by Mr Livingston for the practical solution 
of the question. But the difficulty existing in the late ojfficial 
correspondence was, that the principle assumed at first seemed 
to be necessarily involved again in those subsequent modifica- 
tions. It formed, in fact, the very basis of them. They were 
continually mixed with every consideration of the proposal by 
the British Government. So essentially and inseparably were 
they blended, in truth, that those modifications could not even 
be comprehended without recurrence to this supposed principle 
of exploration and survey. That suggestion went, as it was con- 
ducted, the whole length of discarding the due North line; and 
all the shapes and changes of if,'n the hands of the different diplo- 
matic managers, proceeded upon the same substantial idea, of© 
departure, on one side only, from that direction. 

It is certain, that nothing like a natural monument, was con- 
templated by the Treaty, separate from the intersection of a 
correctly drawn meridian with a plainly marked geographical 
line of delimitation; and it then became, in order to determine _. 
the true dividing point between the different waters, a prac- 
tical question of latitude and longitude. So it was treated in 
the original Conventions for settling it between Mr Rufus King 
and Lord Hawkesbury in 1803, and again between Messieurs 
Monroe and Pinckney and Lords Holland and Auckland in 
1806. Undoubtedly, some idea has prevailed from an early 
period of the French establishment in Canada, that there were, 
lofty regions of land skirting the St Lawrence, at no great dig- 
4 



5S 

tance; and this has never been shown to be false, particularly as 
seen from that side. A more graphic outline is probably pre- 
sented to the view from that river. Bui what the Treaty calls 
for, is not a perspective traced on the horizon, so plainly, as a 
general character of elevation, sufficient to determine the di- 
rection of running streams. It had no isolated or remarkable 
eminence in its eye. Nothing of that kind was demanded. It 
was not so much a line on the sky and air, as one of the earth 
and water, that was really sought. — Passing by the extraordina- 
ry stipulation oflered by Mr Livingston, as an inducement to 
the Biitish Government, that the search for the supposed nat- 
ural monument should be confined to the West, and all inquiry 
for it excluded to the East, there was no actual limit fixed to 
the deviation allowed by his proposal in this Western direction. 
The line, instead of being what it was designed to be from the 
source of the 8t Croix, an inflexible one, was intended to 
swerve westwardly by this process; first towards the river St. 
Francis. 1 he same difficulty might be raised in one place, as 
well as another, in regard to finding objects of the description 
that should answer the created requirement; and the condition 
there failing, along in the vicinity of that last named stream, 
as it might equally be supposed to do, there might remain 
nothing of sufficient consequence to prevent that line from 
veering round still further to the West, until the radius should 
even sweep the whole quarter of a circle. The task of discov- 
ering highlands, thus answering to this artificial exposition of 
the treaty, (departing from the plain rule given by it for the 
purpose) it is meant to say, might prove to be as great in one 
portion, as another, of the territory North of the St John. It 
almost ceased, indeed, to be a point insisted upon, at a subse- 
quent stage of the negotiation, whether the highlands in dispute 
should be sought North or South of the St John. A route was 
♦consented to be given to the nearest practicable object. It was 
consequently suggested by the British Government, as a natural 
solution of the question, under this curious aspect of it, that the 
situation of those highlands should be such, as both parties a- 
greed to come within the description. This was nothing but 
a diplomatic subdety of expression, employed to signify high- 
lands, which were generally supposed to exist not far from the 
sources of the Chaudiere, and of the Penobscot and Kennebec, 
and perhaps of the Androscoggin; all which take their rise 
within no great distance; and supposing these last named rivers 
to be regarded as flowing directly into the Atlantic. This in- 



59 

genious idea was developed to the attention of the British Gov- 
ernment by a pubhcation on the question, as early as 1826; but 
it was never distinctly and boldly exhibited to the view of our 
own, until this recent opportunity; and then only after having 
been approached, circuitously, by certain ambiguous phrases. 
It can only be viewed as a species of legerdemain, to shift the 
real ground of the treaty. It would destroy every vestige of 
resemblance to the boundary of that instrument. The conse- 
quence of adopting the proposed expedient would obviously be, 
that a line, to be drawn directly from the monument, fixed at the 
head of the Saint Croix, to such a terminating point, instead 
of going to make an angle any where, according to the treaty, 
would stretch at once almost across the country towards the 
broken region rising, northeastwardly, above the head of Con- 
necticut River. 

Although this project was fraught with evil, and full of peril, 
rom its first inception, it is not for an instant to- be inferred, 
.hat any color was intended to be aflxirded by the American 
government for so wide an aberration. But the proposition, 
IS it was presented, and was capable of being employed, was 
pregnant with the most pernicious consequences. Its rais- 
chievousness was demonstrated, the more its operation was 
developed. The importance of being delivered from the influ- 
ence of that incredible hallucination, which prevailed upon the- 
subject, from the period of Mr. Livingston's erroneous and de- 
lusive idea, can only be conceived by observing the almost 
inextricable perplexity and confusion, in which it had actually 
involved the negociation; so as to leave no other resource in 
fact, but to ascertain the sense of Maine, whether the State 
would consent to a purely conventional line. And it is most 
manifest from seeing how far it had wandered from the mark, 
until the only point, at which there was any prospect of arriv- 
ing, under the name of highlands, was neither, properly, North 
or South of the St. John, but upon some sort of neutral spot, out 
of the region of the question, in the neighborhood of the general 
head waters of the Chaudiere, on one side, and of those large riv- 
ers, that wind their way into the Atlantic, on the other. How lit- 
tle this would leave for the description of rivers flowing into the 
St. Lawrence is obvious. There would be but one. It is a 
noticeable circumstance, moreover, even in that quarter, that 
the intermediate spaces between contiguous sources of the 
principal rivers, where any dividing line, such as Great Britain 
^ould draw, must needs pass, namely, the St. John, 



60 

Chaudiere, Penobscot and Kennebec, are what are com- 
monly called portages, or low, flat, carrying places, and 
sometimes mere swamps. — It is, surely, not the least re- 
markable, and wonderful, upon the whole, that with all the 
liberality of Mr. Livingston's proposal, and the varied allure- 
ments to its acceptance, the British Government should never 
have been willing to accede to it, without requiring it to be 
qualified with conditions, and loaded with stipulations, amount- 
ing to a concession of the whole ground of controversy. 

It may here be mentioned, that the British Minister's reply 
to the Secretary of State of May 1 , understands the modifica- 
tion mentioned in the offer of the latter to be confined to those 
communicated in his, Mr. Fox's, note of the 10th of February 
last. It is not perceived, that this reference is of any sensible 
importance, in regard to restraining the meaning of those ex- 
pressions. It is not understood, that any further answer to this 
orerture has yet been received from the British Government, 
beyond the customary forms of official acknowledgment. But 
in connexion with this correspondence, it may not be improper 
to advert to an unofficial letter, addressed, shortly after the 
communication of those papers to Congress, by Mr. Forsyth, 
the Secretary of State to a Senator from this State. This 
letter was written apparently to relieve any anxiety, which might 
be felt on the part of Maine, in consequence of the broad lan- 
guage of that correspondence; and to remove any reasonable 
ground of apprehension, that such scope might be intended to 
be given to the pow'ers of a commission, as to endanger the 
determination of the true treaty line. It was declared in that 
letter, that the terms and principles, upon t^lich such a com- 
mission was to be established, remained to be settled under the 
provisionary arrangement, and that they were still to be "dis- 
cussed and decided upon, as justice between the parties and their 
respective rights shall be deemed to require;" and that the 
principal purpose in view would be to ascertain whether the 
true hne could be drawn, as Maine constantly insisted, when- 
ever the two Governments should proceed to do it, with a pre- 
disposition to accomplish it. 

Before quitting this subject, it may be due to a just exposi- 
tion of the present views entertained by the Executive Govern- 
ment of the United States to state, that there is believed to be 
sufficient ground for confidence, that the original form of the 
American proposition is no longer regarded at Washington in 
any other light than the one, in which you have been disposed 



61 

to treat it : That is, as laying a simple foundation for a final 
mode of arbitrement, entirely separate from the spurious prin- 
ciple of enquiry and survey, coupled with it, in the first place, 
by Mr. Livingston. It may not perhaps, be deemed improper 
to add, that this latter idea is, now, not only no longer adhered 
to, but that it is allowed to be an error, and understood to be 
abandoned. No further indulgence is claimed for it, than as it 
might consist with a reliance on the part of Mr. Livingston, 
that the result of the most unrestricted examination, as recom- 
mended in that manner by him, would prove to coincide pre- 
cisely with the terms of the treaty. And the reason for re- 
suming the subject, in the shape of the communication made 
by Mr. Forsyth to Mr. Fox, is understood to be, that it was 
thought necessary, or proper, to take up the negociation at the 
point, at which it was suspended, and supposed to cease. As 
the question now stands, however, it is fortunately freed from 
any such suicidal concession, as was feared in regard to it ; 
and there is no further danger of any final deflection, either 
East or West, from the true North line. This assurance will 
afl:brd no slight relief to the State of Maine, which wants no 
extension of its territory on one side, nor diminution on the 
other. It is certainly to be regarded as an auspicious circum- 
stance, upon which I cannot fail to offer my congratulation, 
that the unaccountable misconception, which prevailed on this 
subject for so long a period, with such a disastrous aspect upon 
the controversy, to a degree perhaps neither foreseen nor com- 
prehended, should have been removed, and renounced forever. 

I have felt myself warranted in dwelling upon this point, and 
calling attention to its importance, not on account of its intrin- 
sic and historical interest alone, but from its material bearing 
and influence upon the prospect of a just and rightful determi- 
nation of the question. 

Unquestionably the most important portion of my mission 
may be viewed as that, which related to theefleci of the resolves 
of the Legislature, passed and approved on the twenty third 
day of March. Those Resolves originated from the communi- 
cation, made by your Message to the Legislature, of the direct 
inquiry contained in the letter addressed to you by the Secre- 
tary of State on the first of March last, to ascertain whether 
Maine would grant her consent to a conventional line. And 
the whole subject having been by you thus submitted to their 
consideration, those Resolutions were thereupon deliberately 
adopted and approved, and are to be regarded as the settled 
sense of the constituted authorities of the State. 



62 

The first resolve expressed the opinion of the Legislature, 
that it was not expedient to give the consent of the State to 
the Federal Government to treat with that of Great Britain for 
a conventional line for the North Eastern Boundary; but that 
the State would insist upon the line established by the treaty 
of 1783. 

The second, referring to the proceeding under the Treaty 
of Ghent, in relation to the appointment of an umpire, to which 
the State had not given her consent, and against which she had 
protested, pronounced it to be a grave question, whether the 
provision of that treaty had not performed its office, and was 
no longer in force, and declined giving the assent of the State 
to the appointment of a new arbiter. 

The third enjoined upon our Senators and Representatives 
in Congress to use their best efforts to obtain the passage of 
the Bill, then pending in Congress, for the survey of the North 
Eastern Boundary of the United States, &c., and provided, 
that if the bill should not become a law, and if the Government 
of the United States, either alone, or in conjunction with 
Great Britain, or the State of Maine, should not establish and 
appoint a commission for such survey, on or before the first of 
September next, it should then be the imperative duty of the 
Governor, without further delay, to appoint forthwith suitable 
Commissioners for ascertaining, running, and locating the North 
Eastern Boundary line of this State, and to cause the same to 
be carried into operation. 

The last directed the transmission of copies of the Message 
and Resolves to the President, heads of departments, and mem- 
bers of Congress of the United States, and the Governor of 
Massachusetts. 

It is to be observed, that a bill similar to that pending before 
the House of Representatives, (and being a copy of it) was 
introduced into the Senate by one of our Senators, on the tenth 
of May. At that time, the bill in the House of Representa- 
tives had been committed to the Committee on Foreign Rela- 
tions, and reported back to the House, without any indication 
of opinion on the part of the Committee; and it remained on 
the table of the House, awaiting any favorable opportunity for 
being taken u]^ and acted upon. 

As the e^!;;blishment of a joint Commission for the survey 
of the Bounilaiy line, between the Governments of the United 
States and (Jreat Britain, came precisely within the terms of 
the Resolves, there can be no doubt, that the fact, which has 



63 

been mentioned, of opening a new negotiation for that purpose, 
was calculated to hare some effect upon the existing state ol 
the question before Congress. It is obvious, too, that if the 
knowledge of this new circumstance did not necessarily altei 
the prospect in regard to the proceeding, on the part of Con-* 
gress, contemplated by those Resolutions, it did, of conse- 
quence, present further grounds for the deliberation of that 
body, arising out of the circumstance, that the Supreme Exec- 
utive of the Nation, constitutionally charged with the conduct- 
ing of its foreign relations, had in his own judgment and view 
of the subject, without question, entered upon the path which 
was understood to be marked out by these Resolves. 

The Bill was afterwards taken up in the Senate, and its 
passage was advocated by the Senator from this State, who 
introduced it, and by the Senators of Massachusetts, and was 
defended, or discussed, by other distinguished members of the 
same body, in speeches of great ability, both on the question 
of right and of expediency. This discussion itself was contin- 
ued, with intervals, on several days; and it was of a nature, at 
the same time, to throw much light upon the subject, and to 
develope the sentiments of the Senate upon the question. 
Some of the Senators, who took part in it, went largely into 
the character and merits of the controversy; and the whole 
question underwent a grave, careful, and deliberate examination. 
The opposite claim was exhibited and canvassed, on the 
grounds set up by the Government of Great Britain; and its 
entire want of foundation was shewn by the force and meaning 
of terms, the signification of which has been settled, over and 
over again, by Great Britain herself. After the most calm and 
thorough consideration of the question, and of the nature of the 
proceedings proposed, and of the consequences which might 
result from the adoption of different courses, the measure itself, 
finally, assumed another form, and the subject received a 
distinct ultin.ate direction of great importance, under the influ- 
ence of the prevailing views taken of it, in this, the highest 
council of the Nation. These were views of the highest con- 
sequence to the rights of this State, and to the peace and dig- 
nity of the Union. They deserve to be fully explained; and 
it is desirable, that they should be duly apprehended. 

In a survey of the progress of this subject in the Senate, it 
may be pertinent to observe, that the same destination evident- 
ly awaited it there, which had attended it in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, namely, the Committee on Foreign Relations. It was 



64 

announced by the Chairman of that Committee of the Senate, 
having, of course, great influence in that body upon questions 
of that character, that he should oppose its passage. At the 
same lime he avowed himself, decidedly, in favor of the right 
and justice of the question being with the Stale of Maine. It 
is fit further to add, that his subsequent part in the discussion, 
and final disposition, of the subject before the Senate, fully 
sustained, and with matchless force vindicated, the opinion he 
had thus advanced in our favor. Among the Senators most con- 
spicuous in the part they took in support of the same opinion, 
with Mr. Buchanan, may be mentioned without perhaps any im- 
propriety, Mr. Williams, Mr. Webster, Mr. Davis, and finally 
Mr. Clay. And the sentiments maintained by them, were se- 
conded at subsequent stages, in more brief, but sometimes in 
not less energetic terms, by Mr. Tallmadge, Mr. Rives, Mr. 
Calhoun, and Mr. Allen. Other gentlemen were prepared to 
have expressed themselves to the same effect, if it had been 
important. It is only necessary to say, that the most entire 
accordance of opinion was manifested in regard to the main 
question; and that the subject was, in consequence, committed 
to the Committee of Foreign Relations, with the intention 
distinctly signified, that it should result in a strong report, ac- 
companied with decided Resolutions, in support of the right of 
the State to the whole territory, which it claimed by the Trea- 
ty, and expressing at once the duty and determination of the 
General Government to maintain it. 

The commitment in this manner was finally decided, without 
any dissenting voice, excepting that ofoneof the Senators from 
Massachusetts, Mr. Davis, who, without derogation from the 
merits of any other honorable member of that body, it may be 
due to say, distinguished himself, throughout the debate, as the 
inflexible and unflinching champion of the rights of Maine, and 
of the position she had assumed, and the i)rinciples she had 
maintained through circumstances of great trial to her fortitude 
and forbearance. Maine, he declared, was in earnest, and 
ought to be sustained. And if the immediate measure, she 
was so anxious to secure, failed of accomplishment, it was 
certainly for no fault of this firm and resolute vindicator of her 
cause. The endurance and patience of JNIaine, also, under 
the long vexatious course of delay attending this protracted 
controversy, and under circumstances of strong excitement to 
her sensibility, were adverted to, and acknowledged, not by 
him alone. Emphatic allusion was made, in terms of high 



65 

national feeling, to the injury and indignity she had suffered in 
beholding the seizure and incarceration of our own citizens, 
while engaged in the exercise of civil rights, or employed in 
the performance of public duties. Pointed notice was, also, 
taken by the Senate of the unwarrantable assumption of actual 
jurisdiction by the Government of Great Britain over a large 
proportion of the territory in question. Among the circum- 
stances of this offensive stamp, brought forward to the attention 
of that body, in tones of indignant complaint and remonstrance, 
one of the most exceptionable, and obnoxious, was the free 
marching of British troops across the territory, without even 
asking the consent of Maine, or the United States. No 
greater violation of the sovereignty, and independence, of a 
State, or Nation, it was strongly conceived, could exist. 

While many acknowledgments are deemed due, on behalf of 
the State, to various individuals, in both branches of Congress 
for their friendly and efficient services to it upon this question, 
I am bound to express a personal sense of obligation to the 
Senate Committee of Foreign Relations for the extension of pecu- 
liar favor and courtesy. And I should do injustice to my own 
convictions, if in the ready recognition which is rendered to 
the great merits of the Senators from Maine, Massachusetts, 
and Pennsylvania, on this subject, I should neglect to notice 
the effective and important part, which was performed, on this 
occasion, by the eminent Senator from Kentucky. Above 
all, it is fit that I should bear my testimony to the faithful and 
effective co-operation of the delegation from this State, to- 
gether with that of our mother State of Massachusetts. And 
I will take the liberty to add, that the interests of the mission 
were, in my estimation, materially aided by the favorable man- 
ner, in which they were recommended, both by yourself and 
by the Governor of Massachusetts, in your letters of recom- 
mendation to the respective delegations. 

The Report of the Committee was made to the Senate on 
the memorable fourth of July. The clearness, cogency, aud 
ability of that valuable and important document were acknow- 
ledged upon all quarters; and elicited the most decided expres- 
sions of applause from those, who had the best opportunities 
of forming an enlightened judgment of its merits. 

This Report was accompanied with Resolutions, three in 
number ; the first of which declared, that after a careful exam- 
ination, and deliberate consideration, of the whole controversy 
between the United States and Great Britain relative to the 



66 

Norrheastern Boundary of the former, the Senate did not en- 
tertain a doubt of the entire practicability of running and mark- 
ing that boundary, in strict conformity with the stipulation of 
the Definitive Treaty of 1783 ; and that it did entertain a per- 
fect conviction of the justice and vali(Uty of the title of the 
United States, to the full extent of the territory m dispute be- 
tween the two powers. 

The second Resolution, recognizing the amicable endeavors 
that had been made between the two countries to settle the 
controversy, and adverting to the danger of mutual irritation 
and collision upon the borders of two kindred and friendly na- 
tions from further procrastination, and alluding also to the 
lapse of time since the conclusion of the treaty, and to the ne- 
gotiation then on foot, referred to, and, in effect, reprobated 
the extraordinary delays, that had hitherto marked the whole 
course of proceedings for the settlement of the question, and 
expressed an earnest desire, that the pending negotiation should 
be brought to a close, and a final determination take place, as 
early as possible. 

The third declared, that it would not be expedient for the 
United States to take any separate course, upon their own au- 
thorityj for a survey, and to mark the boundary, until all rea- 
sonable measures of effecting the object, by concert between the 
two parties, should have been exhausted ; and therefore recom- 
mended that no further proceeding should be had with the Bill. 

This Report was accepted ; and these Resolves were passed 
unanimously. Twenty thousand copies were ordered to be 
printed. The whole subject was thus spread before the coun- 
try, and the world. This was the first full, and deliberate, ex- 
pression of that body upon it. And when we consider its so- 
lemnity, and the character of that august assembly, the weight 
and importance of that opinion must be regarded as immense. 
Previous to that time the subject had only been before the 
Senate under special and limited aspects. Singular as It 
may seem, it was admitted not to have been generally under- 
stood, and to have been little considered, or indeed realized, 
among the community. The question was one, which had 
presented itself to minds of the first intelligence, in other 
parts of the Union, very much in the light of a local contro- 
versy. It had been regarded, in some measure, as a remote 
and obscure border difficulty, about which there might be room 
for different conclusions ; and was not looked upon as of a na- 
ture to interest, or require, general attention, This idea was 



67 

entirely dispelled. A new light, moreover, was shed upon the 
subject. The discussion itself had served, in an extraordinary 
desree, to fix the attention of the Senate, to many of whose 
members the impression was comparatively new, upon the in- 
trinsic merits of the question ; and a conviction was produced 
among all who were present, and who were not in any foreign 
interest, no less in favor of the integrity of it on our part, than 
of its character of immediate public importance. Opinion in 
these respects was informed, enlarged, convinced, and concen- 
trated. The most perfect accordance displayed itself upon all 
quarters ; and it was emphatically acknowledged, and expressed, 
from all parts of the Union, that Maine had made out a clear 
case. 

The deliberation of the Senate ended, as has been shown, in 
pronouncing its entire persuasion of the unquestionable right of 
Maine as one of the United States, upon absolute principles of 
truth and justice ,to the whole extent of her territory, according 
to the treaty of 1783. 

It was thought, too, that the day on which this report was 
offered, was appropriate to the occasion. It was deemed pro- 
pitious to the adoption of the Resolutions ; and the Senate 
yielded, spontaneously, to the lofty impulse of patriotism, in 
proclaiming the force of their profound convictions on the sub- 
ject, and uttering the decisive annunciation of their sentiments, 
on the Anniversary of National Independence. 

The happy eflect of this measure of the Senate was striking- 
ly visible in its immediate influence upon the proceedings of 
the House, to which the same patriotic influence communicated 
itself, and which responded, at once, to the declarations of the 
Senate. The two first Resolutions were adopted by this body, 
in the same form, and with the same unanimity. The only 
difference, in the course taken between the two branches of the 
National Legislature, consisted simply in the circumstance, that 
the House of Representatives withheld its concurrence in the 
opinion, that the bill for the survey ought not, at present, to 
pass, and confined itself to leaving it untouched upon the table.; 

It may be appropriate to mention, that the original bill was 
introduced by one, and the motion to adopt these Resolutions 
was made by anotl e , of the Representatives of Maine. This 
motion was authorized by the Committee on Foreign Relations, 
to whom the Resolutions of the Senate were committed in 
the House, and agreed by them to be reported in this manner. 

In estimating the weight and importance belonging to this 



68 

perfectly united expression of the judgment of Congress, both 
as an exposition of its opinion upon the question, and as an el- 
ement in the process for its settlement, effectively combined, 
we cannot but be sensible of its vast consequence to the vital 
interests of this State and Nation. And it is impossible not to 
feel how greatly its value is enhanced by that entire unanimity. 
As considerable attention has heretofore been paid by the Gov- 
ernment of Great Britain to the proceedings of both branches 
of Congress on this subject, even to the counting of numbers 
on different sides upon incidental divisions concerning this ques- 
tion, in the one as well as the other, it is not improbable, that 
there will be no less regard to the tone and import of this un- 
dividerl declaration. It will be seen, not only that there is no 
want of harmony, but that there is no state of apathy existing, 
upon the subject. Throughout this nation it will be found that 
we are all of one heart and one mind. 

It is justly to be considered as a solemn act of the United 
States in Congress assembled. 

The favorable effect of this important measure was manifest- 
ed, moreover, in the consequent readiness of Congress to take up 
and act upon the subject, which had been referred to it, respect- 
ing the indemnification of the State for the payments made to 
Greely, and others, on account of their sufferings. Provision 
Was made for this purpose, it may be shortly stated, at the last 
moment of the session. This was done by virtue of an ap- 
propriation introduced in the Senate, and adopted at once by 
the House. It was made in conjunction with the appropriation 
for finishing the Road to Mars Hill. The importance of this 
proceeding did not, by any means, consist, as has been already 
suggested, in the amount of the appropriation, which was for all 
that was asked, and if that had been greater, it would not have 
been regarded as excessive. Its value is not to be measured by 
any proportion of that kind. It was a further ready and liberal 
avowal on the part of that body, the Senate, in which it origin- 
ated, assented to promptly by the House, affirming the sense of 
Congress that the assumption of absolute jurisdiction by the offi- 
cial authorities of Great Britain over a portion of the territory of 
Maine, aggravating and offensive in its character, had been ac- 
companied with circumstances, as expressed in the Report, 
calculated deeply to wound her sensibility. This was all that 
remained, in fact, for Congress to do, in order to carry out, to 
its full practical effect, the opinion it had previously pronounced; 
and I trust I am not violating any rule of delicacy in observing, 



69 

that, in this point of view, I have reason for the belief, that the 
honorable Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of 
the House of Representatives eventually concurred in its pro- 
priety. 

I have the honor to present copies of the Report and Res- 
olutions of the Senate, of which I have been favored with a 
large number, with the accompanying maps, for the use of the 
State; and to subjoin the resolutions of the House, and an ex- 
tract of the appropriation above mentioned from the Bill, in 
which it was contained; and to state, that I was promptly ena- 
bled to receive the amount by the Secretary of the Treasury. 

In reconciling ourselves, then, in Maine, to the event of those 
proceedings in Congress, so far as they inferred the immedi- 
ate loss, or imported the mere postponement of the Bill to pro- 
vide for running the Boundary line by the supreme authority of 
the United States, it certainly behooves us to consider, that this 
was in the exercise, in the first place, of the deliberate judg- 
ment of the Senate, which is, of itself, a co-ordinate portion of 
the national Executive, in its public relation to foreign powers, 
and may be called to become a party to the pending negotiation. 
It befits us, also, to remember, that it arose from no insensibili- 
ty to our rights, or want of sympathy in the injuries of which 
we complain; nor from any design to defeat such a course, as 
should be adapted, upon their own view of the whole case, cer- 
tainly, to bring the business to the most safe, expeditious, and 
beneficial conclusion. But, on the contrary, each branch of the 
government was animated by a most entire and sincere desire 
to do every thing in its power to secure the most effectual, fi- 
nal vindication of our rights, consistent with the present condi- 
tion of the country, and the political relations of the government. 
With all the obvious motives on our part, to press for immedi- 
ate action, it was impossible not to perceive that there was the 
fullest disposition to do every thing, that was fit to preserve the 
rights, to protect the interests, and to consult the feelings of 
Maine. Pet haps it may yet become a question, worthy of re- 
flection, whether there has not even been a compensation for 
the measure that was proposed, in the course that has been 
adopted. While we may not, finally, be without some regret, 
that a measure so evidently calculated to bring this vexatious 
subject to a close, could not have been accomplished, it may 
be difficult to say, whether more could have been jusily de- 
manded of Congress, in the actual posture, and circumstances, 
of the question. 



70 

If the People of Maine should, still, not feel able to bring 
their minds to the same practical conclusion on the subject, in 
regard to the expediency of the immediate measure before Con- 
gress, they will not, without doubt, fail to consider and resj)ect 
the paramount right of opinion in the highest deliberative coun- 
cils of the nation. Should the second Resolution of Congress 
have its due efiect in speeding the negotiation to an issue, by 
the establishment of a joint commission for a survey of the boun- 
dary by the first of September, the Resolves of the Legislature 
of Maine will be strictly fulfilled. If, owing to circumstances 
beyond the control of the National Executive, the arrangement 
should n-ot be completed within that period, it might certainly 
seem fit for the same Legislature to judge, if it were still in 
session, what eflect the proceedings of Congress might be pro- 
per to have upon the state of those Resolves; and how far their 
present purpose might be considered as answered, and their fur- 
ther execution might be reasonably postponed. Supposing the 
time fixed not to be considered as the absolute essence of those 
Resolves, it might perhaps be suitably submitted, in that case, 
whether their operation could not be suspended, so as to allow 
of further space for the establishment of such a commission, as 
was contemplated through the medium of the general govern- 
ment. But the Legislature had not the spirit of prophecy. It 
provided for no such emergency. It delegated no such power. 
It had completed its business, and adjourned. It has imparted 
no discretion in relation to the subject. Indeed, there is evi- 
dence, from the manner in which it was left, that the Legisla- 
ture did not mean to relax in its purpose. Its action, therefore, 
upon it necessarily refers to the rule of the Constitution, which 
has lodged no such faculty in the hands of the Chief Magistrate 
as to enable or allow him to dispense with the laws of the land. 
The constitution expressly provides, that the Governor shall 
take care that the laws be faithfully executed. In the event 
that none of the contingencies provided for by the Resolves 
takes effect by the time prescribed, they positively direct the 
appointment ol Commissioners and Surveyors to be made, and 
the necessary steps to be taken for causing their object to be 
carried into operation. The injunction is absolute. The Re- 
solution they record is to be regarded as irrevocable. It is to 
be presuned, it was not intended to be rescinded. It was de- 
signed to stand, as a perpetual expression of the inflexible purpose 
of Maine. It contemplated, only, the contingency of being sub- 
stantially superseded, or rather the liability of those Resolves 



71 

being prevented from going into active operation, (a result 
which they looked to as a probability) by a regular exertion 
within that period, of that higher power of the general govern- 
ment which they invoked. 

It is deeply to be felt and acknowledged, that Maine ought 
to avoid any thing, in the present posture of the question, that 
should either conflict with her obligations, or be at variance with 
her just relations toward the Union, or violate her proper 
respect for its high constitutional authorities. She should be 
most anxiously careful not to offend the feeling of the country 
so distinctly pronounced in her favor; and above all, it is incum- 
bent not to forfeit her well earned title to that strong manifes- 
tation of good will and patriotic determination, by the voice of 
Congress and the community, to stand by and maintain her 
ight by the whole might, moral and political, of the confeder- 
icy. Yet it is not apparent, that any well founded exception 
'.an exist to a compliance on her part with arn absolute require- 
ment of ^the Legislature, so far as it is not plainly repugnant to 
the will of the nation. It is certainly to be hoped, and most 
earnestly to be desired, that the country will not consider an 
obedience, up to that point, of an all but organic law of the 
State, lying in fact at the very foundation of its whole struc- 
ture, and relating to a large proportion of its own soil, by its 
Chief Executive officer, as compromitting constitutional prin- 
".iples of Government. 

From the path, «pon which Maine has entered, difficult as 
may be, especially, for her to pursue her course alone, there 
^ plainly no retreat, except upon those conditions, which are 
ointed out to her; and which are prescribed, not by any rash 
•r capricious purpose, but by the stern and imperious necessity 
)f the case. The law, in its present state, leaves no alterna- 
ive. The Resolves of the Legislature are imperative; and 
hey express the determination of the people. The movement 
.vas not the result of passion, and the purpose does not permit 
tny vacillation. It is the demand of the People of INIaine, 
hat the line shall be run. The unanimous verdict of the 
Country has been pronounced in favor of their right; and Con- 
gress, certainly, has not in this, or in any other manner, ex- 
)ressed any opinion unfavorable to the proper j)roceeding of 
he State, within its clear limits, upon its own responsibility. 
■ n the situation, on the other hand, in which Congress felt 
obliged to leave the subject of a survey by the national author- 
ity, from the pending state of negotiation, it is not to be infer- 



72 

red, that public sentiment might not be satisfied with such a 
construction of what has taken place, on the one part and on 
the other, as should leave Maine free to follow the true line of 
her own Resolves, until there should be a virtual compliance 
with their positive requirement, in the first instance, by means 
of an actual arrangement between the two Governments, or 
the Federal Government should adopt a course of its own in 
relation to the survey; and that the sense of the country, it 
may be inferred, would not be against our proceeding to that 
extent. Such a course, on the part of Maine, might not be 
deemed to be unsuitable, in the first place, to maintain her con 
sistency, and to manifest the constancy of the State, and to 
give a character of completeness and firmness to its action. It 
Comports with the freedom of our political system, and it can- 
not incur the rebuke of those, who respect the proper authority 
of the States, while they may not yet rank them as sovereign- 
ties. It cannot under these circumstances especially, and 
probably will not, be disapproved by those who reflect how 
much is fitly, or unavoidably, left to their appropriate action. 
Something may possibly be allowed, also, to the injured spirit of 
liberty and independence. 

There can be no question, that the right of a party to obtain 
evidence to support his title, in a case of contested boundary, 
is as clear, when it is applied to facts resulting from examination 
of the face of the earth, as when that evidence is to be derived 
from the production of written documents. And when it is 
recollected, how imperfect have hitherto been the proceedings 
adopted for the purpose of survey, and that there was no ques- 
tion of the right then existing in Massachusetts, to cross the S'# 
John in 1798, it may well be presumed that, even allowing for 
the ordinary delays of diplomacy, there will still be sufficient 
opportunity afforded for the establishment of a high commis- 
sion, if it should be thought expedient, by the joint act of the 
Supreme powers, in season for the final determination of any 
important question. In that event, relying upon the predispo- 
sition of those governments to accomplish the purpose, and 
supposing an arrangement to be framed upon terms and princi- 
ples, that ought to be satisfactory to Maine, it may not belong 
to any one, perhaps, in the present state of the subject, to anti- 
cipate what influence or bearing it might be thought proper to 
have, in the judgment of an ensuing Legislature, as to the act- 
ual condition, or further progress, of these Resolves. Howev- 
er far they may have been carried into operation, it may be 



73 

observed, before that period arrives, there will yet remain am- 
ple room for the appropriate exercise of National authority, in 
order to complete the work. The office prescribed by the 
Resolves is to ascertain, run, and locate the Boundary line. 
The first step in the process is, to cause it to be ascertained. 
That will be the province of the Commission. It may still be 
the prerogative of the Government of the United States to 
establish it. 

It may be borne in mind, also, that there is a power, vested 
by Act of Congress, in the President of the United States, to 
carry into effect the required survey, which will not in fact 
expire until the end of another session of Congress, there 
benig a regular and adequate appropriation for that purpose. 
In this respect, it may be noticed, that there is some parallel 
in the positions of the principal executive officers of the United 
States and of this State; with this difference, that the duty im- 
)0sed upon the Governor is, in its terms, peremptory, and ad- 
nitting of no escape; while that, which is assigned to the Pres- 
dent, is by him deemed to be of a more modified and discre- 
tionary character, and to be capable of being affected by other 
circumstances, arising in regard to the due discharge of his high 
constitutional trusts. This is a power, however, still subsist- 
ing in full force, and one which can be executed, or which may 
be employed to provide against any undue delay, or neglect to 
complete the contemplated arrangement. 

In relation to this subject, again, it is to be duly remembered, 
that the President has recently expressed the just and energetic 
sentiment, that no nation should suffer long to remain in dispute 
the true line, which divides its own possessions from those of 
other powers. This dignified and patriotic declaration is still 
in force, and in fulfilment. Meantime another session of Con- 
gress is approaching, before the annual meeting of the Legisla- 
ture, and we cannot but look, as it behooves us to- do, with 
entire confidence and respect, towards the guardian power of 
the General Government, which has given its sure pledge for 
our protection and support. 

There is an important point, upon which one of the Resolves 
has a direct bearing, that remains to be adverted to. It was 
therein declared by the Legislature to be a grave question, 
whether the Treaty of Ghent had not performed its office, and 
was no longer of any effect. The Legislature might have gone 
rfather, and declared, that there was no doubt about it. If it 
5 



74 

were necessary, I might be justified in adducing the authority 
of the most wise and experienced statesmen in the country, 
that there is no question. That provision lias spent its force. 
And with it has vanished all visible form of the British claim, 
and every color of pretence to possession, within the barrier 
line from the St. Croix, any where, to say the least, on this 
side of the river St. John. By denouncing the description of 
the Treaty of 17S3, and declaring it to be incapable of execu- 
tion, the British Government has, in fact, renounced its own 
position, under pretext of the Treaty of Ghent, by which it 
undertook, through its agents, to mark off its bold outline from 
MarsHill. It relies entirely on its transcendent pretension to 
original sovereignty over the whole space. That Government, 
indeed, has gone as far as our own, in denying any binding 
effect to what has been done under the Treaty of Ghent, in any 
shape; and an end is put, of course, to any imagined obligation 
on the part of the United States, (resulting from nothing else, 
that has ever appeared, than some constructive operation of the 
Convention, which was formed under the provision of that 
treaty) to cause Maine to abstain from the due exercise of the 
rights of property and jurisdiction, which she holds on her own 
behalf, and for the benefit of Massachusetts, ove'r all her terri- 
tory. Nothing can be more remarkable, in fact, than the 
weakness of suffering so large a portion of the original domain 
of this State to pass under the unquestioned control of a mere 
provincial warden, unless it may have been the prior unguarded, 
and most improvident, admission of that monstrous claim, under 
the mask of a treaty compact, of which this proved to be a 
fruit, and by means of which this enormous imposition has 
been practiced. The consequence has been a long and disas- 
trous period, during which the lawful authority of this State 
has been interrupted. Immense tracts of timber, among the 
finest in our forests, have been stripped, and have disappeared 
from the territory, of which no account has been rendered, or, 
probably, will ever be obtained. Services, innumerable, of 
civil process have been made, and military executions enforced. 
Citizens have been arrested in their dwellings, and dragged 
from their firesides to foreign prisons; or have been driven 
from their homes to find shelter in the wilderness; and one 
third ofj.he territory of Maine has been almost surrendered to 
the custody of the British Crown. There can be no greater 
indignity to a free and independent State, than thus to have an 



75 



entire portion of its soil subtracted fronm its own, and reduced 
to foreign dominion. Great Britain herself would not endure 
such an outrage, in the remotest corner of one of her Islands, 
for a moment. Surely such an usurpation is no longer to be 
tolerated. 

While the active assertion of a foreign jurisdiction is thus 
totally subversive of the rightful authority of the State over its 
own terriory, the assumption, on which it is founded, is justly 
offensive to the character and independence of the United 
States. I refer to the demand of Great Britain, based upon 
the position of original sovereignty. This recent and high 
toned pretension, equally absurd and injurious in its whole 
extent and operation, becomes still more gross and audacious, 
it must be remarked, when it is undertaken to be advanced 
across the boundary line upon this side of the St. John. It 
will be well remembered, that Great Britain absolutely relin- 
quished all idea of possession, south of the bend of that river, 
in 1798; and it is not to be forgotten, to how small a "portion 
of unsettled territory," as it was expressed, outside of course, 
in its very terms, of the settlement of Madawaska, her doubt 
extended, to the utmost, in 1814. Nothing can be more aston- 
ishing, than the ground since taken, after such an acknowledg- 
ment, and the confidence with which it was finally assumed. 

It may be observed, that although processes have been fre- 
quently served, and repeated seizures of timber have taken 
place, on the lands and streams south of the main St. John, and 
even along the region of the Aroostook, authority from abroad 
has not been there exercised with altogether so high and strong 
a hand, and its demands have not been put forward with quiio 
so much vigor and determination, as within the limits of the 
upper tract of territory, lying upon the river Madawaska. It 
is hardly to be presumed, that at this period, however, British 
authority will be undertaken to be any further extended by 
fresh acts of interference with our surveys and locatioi.s, within 
the line, on this side of flie St. John. That day has piobably 
passed away. Even the King of the Netherlands saw r.o pre- 
tence to be set up South of that point. And now that the sup- 
position of any implied agreement, such as has been alluded to 
as arising under the article of the Treaty of Ghent, for abstain- 
ing from the rightful exercise of jurisdiction, must be necessa- 
rily inferred to have shared the fate of that provision, and to 
have ended with that emergency from which it originated, it may 
well be supposed that no similar concession will be made, and 



76 

that no obstacle be interposed to prevent Maine from occu- 
pying in the first place, exclusively, to the junction of the north 
line with the St. John. Maine will undoubtedly wait, wherev- 
er the sense of the nation shall express, in regard to the final 
establishment of her boundary beyond. But can the national 
honor brook the idea of even a silent renewal of such a sur- 
reptitious compact for the future, by which Maine shall be thus 
debarred from aflbrding protection to her own soil and citizens, 
so long as atonement is refused for the injuries of Baker and 
Greeley .'' Nor let it be forgotten in the record of the past, that 
while Maine has, again and again, been called to make indemnity 
for the wrongs which her citizens have suffered, she has made 
no reprisals, nor retaliation, upon those by whom they have been 
inflicted. With this severe experience of the abuses which 
have been practiced, under the pretence of a diplomatic under- 
standing, which she has ever repudiated, is it to be expected, 
that such patient forbearance shall longer be continued.'^ Shall 
this unfounded foreign interference with the just and acknowl- 
edged right of possession, on this side, especially, of the inter- 
section of the St. John be any longer tolerated.^ If it does 
not cease at once, it ought to have a period put to it forever- 

In regard to that point in my commission, which was con- 
nected with the importance of taking active measures for the 
defence of the frontier, and the establishment of military posts, 
as before referred to, my own portion of service has been 
necessarily limited, in the first place, to the several confer- 
ences, for which opportunity was afforded to me with the Sec- 
retary of War, in which his attention was earnestly solicited to 
the subject, according to thos© views which were suggested by 
you; and to an interview, secondly, with the Committee of the 
House of Representatives on Military Affairs, relating to the 
same subject, while they had under consideration the increase 
of the military force of the country. From declarations of 
members of that Committee, individually, and in debate upon 
the bill reported in the House, I understood, that their recom- 
mendation of such an increase was influenced by a due regard 
to our exposed position. I can add, with great satisfaction, 
that every disposition was manifested by the Secretary of War 
to comply with the wishes of Maine, in all respects consistent 
with the limited means at his disposal, and compatible with the 
maintenance of those amicable relations with Great Britain, 
which the Executive was desirous to cultivate. 

As, in conformity with your requests, conveyed in previous 



11 

communications, General Wool was directed to visit the State, 
and confer wiih you in relation to the objects already mention- 
ed, and it would be in my power but httle more than to repeat 
what passed upon occasions when I was present, in which 
these objects were recommended by the Secretary to his 
careful attention and correct military observation, and as much 
was left to communication, under his general instructions, with 
yourself, I may, with more propriety, refer to your own more 
perfect knowledge en this subject, derived from your late tour 
with him, and resalting from information from him. 

And now, sir, in looking back with as much satisfaction as I 
may, and reflecting with feelings, which I cannot entirely for- 
bear, upon the progressive course of what has taken place on 
this subject, in pursuance of the various Re-olves of the 
Legislature, and under your instructions, resulting, as has 
been seen, in the strong expression of Congress, with "the 
final concurrence of all the branches of the Federal Govern- 
ment, in regard to the unquestionable character of our rights, 
and the just resognition, also, of our reasonable claims, several 
points appear to present themselves, as deserving of distinct 
and special consideration. To these I would beg leave to 
call attention, in a summary manner, before closing this already 
extended report. 

If in this, or in any other particular, I should be deemed to 
exceed in any degree the precise line of duty, intended to be 
marked out for me, I hope it may be pardonedto the spirit, 
with which I entered upon it, and the interest which I have, 
with others, long felt in it. The people of this State, I should 
wish, might have the full means, through you, of understanding 
the importance, as well as fidelity of what has been executed, 
according to the purposes of these Resolves^ and accomplished 
by your directions. 

The first remark I have to make upon this course of the 
State is, that it has resulted in proceedings, which have fully 
nationalized tiie question. Both branches of Congress have 
come forward with one voice, and have adopted our acts an<l 
assumed our case. Perhaps it may be more fitly siiid, thai 
they have made it that of the country. The cause of one, even 
the humblest citizen of the State, has been acknowledged r.o 
the cause of all. In this respect I may even say, that there 
has been a generous, and almost emulous, reclamation of it, 
from the light in which we have been left to regard it ourselves- 
It was denied, in a liberal and lofty spirit, that this was a ques- 



78 

tion, in which Maine alone was concerned. It was insisted 
with energy, to be one, which equally interested the whole 
Union. The patriotic sentiment was advanced, that Virginia 
herself, for example, was as much a party to the question as 
any other portion of the confederacy. On this subject there 
was, in truth, an avowal of national sympathy, of which the 
chord has already stretched through the whole circuit of the 
Union, from one end of it to the other, and extends its vibra- 
tion throughout the West. This was certainly a testimony no 
less earnestly to have been wished, than warmly to be cherish- 
ed. Assuredly, there is no view that can be taken of this sub- 
ject, by which we can fitly separate ourselves from the rights, 
feelings, and interests of the Republic. 

Secondly, the determination of Maine to reject a conven- 
tional line was approved, and her course in that respect spoken 
of, in terms of the most marked and unequivocal commendation. 
By none was this approbation more decidedly and emphatically 
expressed, than by the honorable Chairman of the Committee 
of Foreign Relations in the Senate ; who, although he had 
seemed to labor under some transient misapprehension as to 
the immediate spring, or perhaps, prudence, of her proceeding, 
yet suffered no vague impression of that kind to cast any 
cloud over the clear merits of the case, to check the sound 
dictates of his understanding, or to chill the patriotic impulses 
of his heart. Let the right be first recognized, said the Sena- 
tor from Massachusetts, who entered most fully and forcibly 
into the argument, let the line be run, and the boundary be es- 
tablished, before Maine shall be called to listen to any other 
suggestion. As to the real discretion of her proceedings, I 
may observe, that it is to be determined by the results ; of 
which there has already been sufficient manifestation. 

It will, undoubtedly, be attended with no small feeling of 
satisfaction to the people of this State, it may be believed, after 
all the assiduity that has been employed, and the ingenuity 
evinced, to give the subject a conventional direction, througii so 
long a course of diplomacy, as to render it necessary, in the 
last resort, for the sense of Maine to be formally required, as 
the only practicable solution, that the rectitude and firmness of 
her final recorded resolution should be distinctly acknowledged 
and applauded. 

Thirdly, the arrogant pretension set up on the part of Great 
Britain, at the point of the peace of 1783, that is to say, that 
she was then in the position of a superior power exercising her 



right of sovereignty in marking off the limits of territory, 
which she was then meting out to an inferior, who could 
take nothing but by virtue of her concession, was firmly and 
temperately repelled at the outset, with a strength and dignity 
worthy of the same distinguished Senator of Slassachusetts. 
This false and revolting assumption, equally in regard to fact 
and principle, was denounced with no less decision, and the 
contrary claim of our co-equal character of sovereign right, in 
the capacity of State or Nation, asserted and sustained by 
the able Senator from Pennsylvania, as well in his principal 
speech, as in the valuable Report, of which he was'the author. 
And the Senate, by its deliberative, solemn act, has affirmed 
the same conclusion. As an exposition of a sound, and most 
important, principle of public law, in relation to our political 
condition, upon this point, we bow to no higher authority. 
The opposite idea, so prejudicial and baneful to us in every 
respect, was properly treated as an obsolete relic of doctrines 
belonging to the remote and antiquated barbarism of despotic 
power. It was one which had been advanced in the negotia- 
tions of Ghent ; where it was brought to bear, with sweeping 
force, upon our rights alike in regard to the ocean and the land. 
It involved, and jeoparded, our fisheries, as well as our bounda- 
ries. It was closely connected, too, with that abandoned and 
foregone claim of impressment, out of which, more than any oth- 
er real cause, that painful conflict arose. This idea, it may be 
observed, w^as perfectly exploded, in a correspondence, which 
took place soon after the termination of the contest, with one 
of the British Ministers, Lord Bathurst, by Mr. John Quincy 
Adams. It was regarded, in fact, as going to the very root of 
our Independence. And you can easily conceive, how such 
an idea, so entirely and absolutely at war with our character as 
a people, v/ould be dealt with by the sons of patriotic sires, 
who have received their glorious inheritance from the Revolu- 
tion. 

The practical inference, I should perhaps have observed, 
that is' drawn upon this point, on behalf of the Government of 
Great Britain, from this high and paramount pretension, is, in 
the first place, that all the territory, which has not been proved 
to have been, by treaty, ceded by her, belongs to her still. 
That, until the line shall be established to the satisfaction of 
both parties, the whole of the disputed territory ought to be- 
long to the British Crown, because Great Britain is the original 
possessor. And, finally, that i)0 part of the disputed territory 



80 

has ever been withdrawn from her sovereignty, in consequence 
of the defective description of the hne of boundary in the 
treaty of 1783. This last form of the pretension is fully dis- 
closed in the diplomatic correspondence lately communicated 
on this subject to the British Parliament. It is unnecessary 
to repeat, that the whole principle of it was put an end to by 
the opinion. cf the American Senate. 

Fourthly, it may be further observed, that it was recognized 
and well established, both in the discussion, and in the Report re- 
ferred to in the Senate, that Maine was not absolutely without 
a boundary, even if the description of the Treaty should pos • 
sibly be doomed to fail, and the provision of that instrument 
should be entirely construed away; saving, that is, the delimi- 
tation by the due North line fixed from the source of the St. 
Croix. By Mitchell's map, upon which all agree, the bounda- 
ry, then to be sought for, was originally upon the St. Law- 
rence. There, by common consent, lay the original North 
West angle of Nova Scotia. With that the Northeast point 
of New England was coincident ; and the two territories were 
conterminous. Such was the claim accordingly, by Massachu- 
setts and Great Britain both, until the year 1763; when an al- 
teration was projected by the latter, without the consent of 
the former. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was never as- 
sented to by the colonies, whose limits it curtailed. It was 
complained of, on the contrary, as an infringement of their 
charters. The Quebec Act of 1774, to the same effect, was 
opposed, also, as in derogation of their rights, and was solemn- 
ly protested against, as an act of flagrant despotism. Massa- 
chusetts, when she was under the crown, never subscribed to 
either. Nor did she ever, as one of the United States, ex- 
press her acceptance of the exact description of boundary, 
contained in those several acts of the Crown and Parliament, 
any further, or otherwise, than as the same terms were adopted, 
inserted, and incorporated in the description of the treaty of 
1783. And if that is rejected, as devoid of import, and hav- 
ing no binding force whatever, Maine would justly be remitted, 
and ought now to be restored, to the original rights of the Com • 
monwealth of Massachusetts. In that case her disputed boun- 
dary rests uj.m the baidv of the St Lawrence. It is not ne- 
cessary to rer.iark, at the same moment, that Maine has never 
advanced any ?Lich actual pretension; although she might well do 
so, provided (he description of the Treaty were to be absolute- 
ly annulled; arid renounced as entirely defective; excepting, as 



81 

before mentioned, in so far as it fixes the due North line to stari 
from the source of St Croix, and fixes the mouth of that river 
in the Bay of Fundy. So far as the Treaty carries her, IMaine 
means to go; and no farther. She intends to confine herself 
strictly within its limits. But she does not mean to concede, 
in advance, that she is without any bounds, except such as the 
cupidity of a foreign power may choose to assign her. 

In connection with this point, I hope it will not be regarded 
as an improper digression, nor as trespassing unduly upon your 
indulgence, to detain you by remarking, that all that Great 
Britain ever pretended to lay claim to, as parcel of the Prov- 
ince of Quebec, erected upon the peace of 1763, after the 
conquest of Canada, and as lying upon the right bank of the 
River St. Lawrence, was nothing tiiore than a limited strip of 
land along its southern border. This was all, that was then 
contended to be comprised within the description of boundary 
north of the line of dividing highlands, as it was traced by 
the terms of the Proclamation of 1763. In the late drscussion 
and Report referred to in the Senate, it was correctly appre- 
hended, that the line of the boundary, as described in the treaty, 
reached to, and then stretched along, those highlands which lie 
at the heads of the streams flowing north into the river Saint 
Lawrence. That portion of the description was justly deemed 
to be infallible. Although the United States, it may be ob- 
served, were not bounded in direct terms, by the hmits of the 
adjacent British Provinces, as such, (a mode which might be 
liable to some objection) yet it is undoubtedly true, that the es- 
tablished boundaries of the then contiguous Provinces of Nova 
Scotia and Quebec were adopted, in the same substantial and 
almost identical terms, which had been previously employed 
to designate them by Great Britain. The original boundaries 
of those two Provinces, therefore, as they were established at 
the epoch of the Revolution, are to be properly so far regard- 
ed, as they joined to constitute the northwest angle of Nova 
Scotia, which is, in its strict terms, a British, rather than Amer- 
ican bound; and those terras, accordingly, are to be resorted to, 
to explain and determine the import of the equivalent, or 
exactly similar, expressions employed, for precisely the sams 
purpose, in the treaty of 1783, as they were then, and since, 
universally understood. Indeed, although it is not absolutely 
denied, to this day, that such was the original force of those 
expressions, as applied to the boundaries of the British Prov- 
inces, that same signification, it is pretended, was somehow 



82 

lost in their being reduced to the description of the treaty of 
1783. There can be no question, that such a point, as the 
northwest angle of Nova Scotia, to be thus constituted, was 
considered to have a proper existence. The circumstance 
objected by Great Britain, of the due north Hne from tho St. 
Croix having to cross the St. John and the Restigouche, in 
order to ai-rive at the intended highlands, is really of no more 
importance in regard to one of those rivers, than the other. 
In the various English maps of the country, from 1763, when 
the proper north west angle of Nova Scotia was established, 
until 1798, when the corresponding point at the source of the 
St. Croix was determined, (by which the (}uestion was in fact 
settled,) il inay be noticed, that the map line, from whatever 
river was marked and laid down, as bearing the name of St. 
Croix, was traced always across one, and the most important, 
of those rivers, viz: the St. John, and sometimes both. It 
crossed the Restigouche, as often as that river was extended 
upon any map west of the north line. When the old Ameri- 
can Congress proposed to take the St. John for the St. Croix, 
(an idea, for which it was stated by Mr .Jay, who was partially 
conversant with the subject, that respectable opinions in Ameri- 
ca were not wanting, and one, with which the recent, likewise 
rejected, overture of Mr Forsyth to the British Government 
coincides,) the effect of which would have been to change the 
northwest angle of Nova Scotia to the source of the St. John, 
it is well known, and has been shown, that they did not refer 
to the river on Mitchell's map, which was not the one before 
them; and there is no doubt that they had in view the head of 
the Madawaska branch, or source of Lake Temiscouata. 
And when they concluded, by their instructions, not to insist 
on carrying their claim so far as the St. John, it is a plain 
perversion of their meaning to suppose, that they were looking 
in any other direction, than towards the seaboard. The St. 
Croix of Sir William Alexander's grant of Nova Scotia, as 
all agreed, must have its mouth in the Bay of Fundy. This 
condition was fully complied with by the St. John, although 
there is no sufficient reason to suppose that was the river really 
intended. In receding from the mouth of that river, however, 
to the Maguagadavie, (which was marked as the St. Croix on 
Mitchell's map,) or, as it was finally fixed, to the Schooduc, 
the northwest angle of Nova Scotia vibrated, until it finally 
settled at that point, where it was actually intended to be estab- 
lished, by the intersection of the due north line drawn from 



13 

the source of the St. Croix, whenever determined, with the 
dividing highlands, exactly according to the terms of the Proc- 
lamation in October, and the commission to Governor Montague 
Wilmot in November, 1763, and exactly as it was delineated 
and adopted in the treaty of 1783. It is remarkable, that there 
is not an original English map of the last half of the last ceri- 
century, containing this territory, which does not distinctly 
place this northwest angle of Nova Scotia on the north side of 
the present main branch of the St. John. 

Perhaps it may not be thought to be of much consequence 
to advert, in this connexion to another idea, that has been held 
up by the British Government; which is, that it was intended 
to reserve to Great Britain the whole of the rivers that flow 
through her territory. There is no foundation for any such 
pretense to be derived from the terms, or import of the Treaty 
of 1783. Such an idea is a mere afterthought, as is indeed 
the whole argument, on which the claim she has advanced of 
late years rests, and which stands in striking oppositon to her 
oft repeated, and recorded confessions. The mouths of the 
rivers could be fixed without difficulty; but the more remote 
branches and sources of those which fell into the Atlantic had 
not Keen ascertained; nor was a minute attention probably paid 
to that circumstance. It was one of no leading importance. 
A different and firmer line of demarcation was determined on. 
The St. John, itself, is after all, the main river, and much of 
its length, the only one, which is directly divided from the 
tributaries of the St. Lawrence, by the line above its own, along 
the large extent of its upper course. The southwestern branch 
of the St. John was not entirely discovered until the surveys 
under the Treaty of Ghent. The whole history of the sub- 
ject is in fact opposed to any such suggestion of modern date, 
as that of saving out the whole river St. .John; and plainly 
shows that the whole plan of Great Britain, in all the great acts 
of 1763, 1774, and 1783, to which she was successively party, 
was governed by the just, general prevailing idea of the geog- 
raphy of the country, from the earliest period to the present. 
It shows, beyond a shadow of doubt, that it was simply intended, 
from first to last, to mark off the mere margin of the Saint 
Lawrence by the head line of those rapid streams, which fell 
into that river, from the great class of those which flowed to 
the ocean in all other directions. The broad scope and design 
of the Proclamation of 1763, in its whole direction across the 
continent, thrjughout its grand division of waters flowing off* 



84 

^rom the west and northwest, and away also fioin the St. Law^ 
rence, into the Atlantic, demonstrate such an original principle 
of demarcation. And this is again sustained by the general, 
decided character of superior elevation, which belongs to that 
upper region of country, from above the head of the Connec- 
ticut to that of the Bay des Chaleurs. This elevation is 
much beyond any height, that interrupts the declivity thence to the 
ocean, adown the banks of the St. John; and the descent, on 
the other side, to the tide waters of the St. Lawrence, there 
naturally becomes more sheer and abrupt. Indeed it is under- 
stood to be well ascertained, that where the hnd comes to a 
crest, whence it slopes and sends its streams downward to the 
St. Lawrence, it is the highest any where on the whole meri- 
dian line from the St. Croix. 

Let it be remarked, that every real attempt, in whatever man- 
ner, to withdraw the rivers entering first into the Bays of Fun- 
dy and Chaleurs, before they fall into the broad Atlantic Ocean 
from the proper field of the treaty description — or, what is 
just the same thing, to assign them, in their whole westerly 
extent, to the British dominions, without regard to the govern- 
ing lines, or attending to the specific directions given by the 
treaty, is only applying a sponge to that instrument. It is a 
process, in other words, to obliterate every trace of it, so far 
as regards that portion of the boundary of the United States, 
which was first begun at, and which was fixed as the starting 
point, or corner stone, in order, as it was emphatically expres- 
sed, "to avoid all future disputes ;" and it leaves the terms, 
carefully employed in the treaty for that purpose, almost entirely 
destitute of signification. The construction to tiiis efiect, 
which has been occasionally 'resorted lo by Great Britain, (if 
that canbe called one, which is rather, the work of destruction,) 
would leave us in fact, without any national boundaiy on the 
Northeast, from the head of the Penobscot and Kenebec to 
the source of the St. Croix whatever. Incredille as it may 
seem, such has been the assumption, and such is seen to be 
the consquence. 

The present views of Great Britain on iliis subject, it 
is needless to say, are very wide from tlios-e which ))re- 
vailed in 1783. They arise from coiisidf>iu".icr:s of entirely 
an after kind from those which governed then. Views and 
considerations, which might be urged to much efi^ect in discus- 
sing a line to be fixed by treaty, cannot decide the interpretation 
of one already made. Yet the question of an actual intention, 



85 

which existed over fifty years ago, is sought to be resolved into 
the poHtical convenience of the present day. This is grasping 
at a very different object from what was originally designed. 
In looking at the diplomatic correspondence, recently com- 
municated by the British Government to Parliament, it is re- 
markable to observe the strain of regret, which prevails on the 
part of its official agents in this country, that the river St. 
Croix was finally fixed in the Bay of Fundy. And that 
result is, very singularly, lamented, as having been produced 
by the provision of the treaty of 1794; as though that had not 
been the precise limitation of the Treaty of 1783, of which 
this lingering wish to be rid shows the original importance. 
This result (sufficiently unpropilious, it was thought, at the 
time, in its actual determination, to the United States,) was 
undoubtedly intended to be remedied, in some manner, by 
taking possession of Penobscot in 1814; as the British Gov- 
ernment was then urgently advised to seize the opportunity 
afforded to obtain a revision of the boundary, acknowledged to 
be established by the Treaty; particularly, so as to secure a 
direct communication between Quebec and Halifax. Although 
the project, in that form, was obliged to be abandoned, the plan 
itself was not relinquished, but the idea has been revived in a va- 
riety of expedients. Some new inference, finally, seems to be 
drawn, even at this late day, from the supposed error of the 
Treaty of 1783, in confining the St. Croix to the Bay of 
Fundy, (confirmed, as it is thus complained of, under that of 
1794), the effect of which would cut off that portion of the 
territory of the State, which lies beyond the waters of the 
Penobscot. To make any further remark upon this topic 
would be to enter upon the useless and forgotten controversy 
respecting the ancient limits of Acadia, (which the French 
originally claimed to extend at least to the Penobscot) existing 
near a century ago. So far as the after designs of Great 
Britain upon this point have been prospered by the events of 
negotiation since the Treaty of Ghent, the condition of peace, 
in respect of Maine, can hardly be said to have been better, 
than that of war. 

In one word, the extraordinary supposition has been adopted 
that'this whole provision of the Treaty of 1783, respecting our 
boundary, was founded in universal error. 

It is striking to perceive to what extent the fallacy, just 
referred to, in relation to the original St. Croix, pervades the 
correspondence communicated to Parliament. I have taken 



86 

occasion to allude lo that correspondence more freely, and to 
some points, to which it relates, more particularly, on account of 
the importance it assigns to them, in a manner, which might 
not otherwise seem to have been called for; and because it 
also contains disclosures, and throws light upon passages in 
relation to the former negotiation, commenced in 1832, with 
which the people were unacquainted, and in which the State 
would be interested. If I forbear to advert to them more 
expressly, or to dwell upon them further, it will be from 
motives, which I hope will not be mistaken, and from consid- 
erations, which, 1 am sure, will not be disapproved. One 
remark, however, may be allowed. Let it suffice to say, that 
the contents of this correspondence, which I have had the 
opportunity of seeing, are of a nature to vindicate the patriotic 
solicitude, and statesmanlike sagacity, of those reiterated calls, 
that were made in Congress in 1834, and again in 1836, which 
ended. It maybe observed, in unfolding the negotiation then on 
foot, and ultimately in the reference of the matter to Maine, 
and in the recent Resolutions of Congress. 

The bold design which has been betrayed, to annul that por- 
tion of the Treaty of 1783, in relation to the boundary, is but 
a mere consequence of the doctrines and purposes developed at 
Ghent, and demands to be resisted with all the energy that can 
be aroused in the breasts of the American People. It is sub- 
versive, I must again repeat, of the very principle of Indepen- 
dence, and leaves us reduced to a state of colonial vassalage. 
Such a badge of degradation is not to be endured. This is a 
condition to which the country will never call upon Maine to 
submit. It is founded on a pretension so utterly baseless and 
unsound, one so monstrous and humiliating, so totally revolting 
and prostrating to every feeling of national character, that she is 
obliged to repel it at every peril. A question of this kind is 
certainly calculated to expose the virtue, as well as the patience, 
of a community claiming to be free, to the severest test. And 
will the American People, after the opinion which has been pro- 
nounced by their Representatives in favor of the right of Maine, 
and their decisive sentence of condemnation upon the adverse 
claim, require of her to pause in such a vigorous and prudent 
course of proceeding, under her own constitutional authority, as 
is at once warranted, and befitting, in the actual structure of the 
Federal Government? What prospect is there of this harrass- 
ing question being brought to a close, without some active ef- 
fort of her own .'' How little has it hitherto been prospered 



87 

by negotiation ? What inducement can be drawn from the 
merely .experimental arrangement which is proposed between 
the two governments, to dispense with the importance of any 
further interest, or exertion on her part? How long is this anx- 
ious and vexatious question to be adjourned? How long is the 
most precious attribute of a State, its perfect right of sovereign- 
ty over its own soil, its power of protecting its own citizens, to 
be held in abeyance? Maine might well be expected to put her 
own shoulder to the wheel, while she would claim to invoke 
the higher energy of the general government. 

In the last place, it may be observed that the course which 
was taken in Congress, and especially the discussion and report 
in the Senate, together with the joint declaration, in which it 
resulted, would have, it was augured, the two-fold effect, of 
spreadir>g information on the subject widely, and calling atten- 
tion to it forcibly, both at home and abroad. 

It was deemed highly desirable, first, that the public mind 
in this country should be thoroughly enlightened, and made up, 
in regard to the merits of the controversy; and that it should 
be perfectly convinced, above all, upon the cardinal points of 
truth, justice, and integrity, so essentially belonging to the final 
assertion of an absolute right. 

Secondly, it was conceived, that this might also serve as a 
moral appeal to the conscience and magnanimity of Great Bri- 
tain herself, from whom we do not feel more surely, that we 
have ourselves descended, and that we are alike offspring of 
the same British and Saxon ancestry, than that we share by the 
clear and equal inheritance of blood, an invincible impatience 
of wrong and an indomitable determination to maintain our right. 

An appeal of this nature, it was thought, might not be with- 
out effect. It was one that would go forth to the World. It 
would be conveyed to all cliristendom. It would speak even 
to after ages, that should demand an account of the origin and 
causes of this controversy. Neither in those, who uttered their 
voices on this subject, nor in the tone of that report which 
spoke the sense of the whole, was there any failure to insist on 
the sublime maxims of morality, nor any omission to invoke 
the benign principles of peace. These sentiments lie deep in 
the breasts of this community; while they are firmly impressed 
with the profound belief of the righteousness of their cause. To 
their minds it is indelibly stamped with the visible signatures of 
eternal truth. They are resolved, therefore, to stand on their 
ancient ways, and to adhere to the old landmarks, which their 



88 

fathers hare set. And well may those, to whose hands the 
great trusts of human affairs are committed, and by whose 
counsels the destinies of nations are gnided, look, with a dis- 
cerning spirit, into the merits and aspects of this grave question. 
Let them weigh its vast responsibilities; and consider wisely 
the importance of the steps they are to take, before their feet 
stumble on the dark mountains. 

In concluding, and submitting this Report, which has been 
drawn to an unintended length, to your favorable consideration 
and acceptance, it can become me only to refer to the portion 
of good fortune, more than merit, which may have attended my 
humble endeavors to be instrumental in carrying out the pur- 
poses of my commission with all the faithfulness in my power. 
If all has not been done that was desired, 1 trust that the people 
of this State will feel satisfied that something has been ace om- 
complished. And I hope, that you will find, that your instructions 
have been fulfilled, to the spirit, if not to the letter. I 
have no doubt, that the action of Congress has formed a new 
era upon this question. I cannot but consider, that the State 
is indebted, through yourself, to the decided course of its con- 
stituted authorities for any success that has arisen, since the 
proceeding in Council. And I have not sought to disguise 
the gratification of having thus far had the privilege to com- 
plete, under your directions, after so long an interval, the ser- 
vice, which I commenced, as an agent, under the auspices of 
your lamented predecessor. Governor Lincoln. 
I have the honor to be, 

With great respect and truth, 

Your obedient servant, 

CHARLES S. DAVEIS. 

Hen. Edward Kent, Governor of Maine. 



89 

No. 17. 

Provixce of New Bru.vswick. 

To Whipple, Esq. Surveyor of Lands of the > 

State of Maine. ) 
Whereas, the operations in which you and your party arc 
engaged, in surveying lands and locating settlers on this river, 
under the authority of the State of Maine, appear to me to be a 
violation of the existing arrangements subsisting between the 
Britisli Government and that of the United States; and whereas, 
by my instructions it is made my duty to protest against any act 
implying sovereignty or jurisdiction on tiie part of any Govern- 
ment or State, or of the citizens or subjects of any Government 
or State, exercised within the territory in dispute between the 
two Governments of Great Britain and the United States, and 
known by the name of the disputed territory, until the right to 
that territory shall have been decided by negotiation between the 
two Governments: — I do hereby accordingly, in my capacity of 
Warden of the said Territory, duly appointed by the Firitish 
Government, in pursuance of my duty on behalf of Her Majesty, 
protest and warn you forthwith to desist from proceedincr further 
with your proceedings. 

Restook tiiver, June 27th, 1838, 

(Signed) JAMES IMACLAUGHLAN, 
Warden of the Disputed Territory. 

No. 18. 
STATE OF MAINE. 

Resxoox River, June 28, 1833. 
To Ja^ies Maclaughlax, Esq. 

Siu: — I have received your communication dated 27th, of the 
present month, wherein you claim to act as Warden of the Dis- 
puted Territory, protesting, in behalf of Great Britain, against my 
proceeding any further in surveying lands and locating settlers 
on this river. In answer to which I would beg leave to state, 
that I act under the authority and by the command of the Gov- 
ernment of the State of Maine, so far as the surveying of the 
land is concerned ; as to the location of settlers, I* have no 
further agency than to note the claims of different individuals to 
certain tracts, and return the same to the Land Office at Bangor. 
Tlius far I consider my oath of office and instructions from Gov- 
e'nment require me to act; and in accordance witii that belief. 
I shall act to the best of my judgment and ability, — acknoulcdtr- 
ing na governme.it or power but that of the Suite under wiiichl 
have the honor of acting, sufficient to control my duty or counter- 
mand the orders which govern my present movements. 

Vours, S. S. WHIPPLE, 
Surveyor General of the State of Maine. 
6 



90 

No. 19. 

STATE OF MALNE. 

Executive Drp.vrtme.vt, } 
SeplRinber 20, 1838. ^ 
To Jjhn G. Deane, Milford P. JVorlon and James Irish Esquires: 

You, having been appoiiited and commissioned by the Govern- 
or, Commissioners for ascertaining, running and locating the 
North Eastern Boundary Line of tliis State, wiil proceed to the 
execution of that duty forthu'ith. You vviil employ a snitable 
number of competent men as assistants, who will at all times act 
under your direction. You wiil understand, in rtjlerence to your 
own compensation, and that of the whole party, that as no speci- 
fic appropriation was made by the Legislature, you must depend 
for payment upon the will and determination of the next Legis- 
lature, and all contracts for services will be made upon this basis 
and understanding. You wiil purchase at the expense of the 
State all necessary utensils and sufficient provisions for the expe- 
dition, and cause them to be transported to a suitable place of 
depot on or near the boundary line. 

After all preliminary arrangements are made, you will proceed 
in the first place to the North Eastern Boundary of tf.e State of 
Maine, according to tha Treaty of 17C3. You will then ascer- 
tain how far any line of exploration, or otherwise has been traced 
and marked towards the North West Angle of Nova Scotia, as 
claimed by the United States and the State of IVIaine, and you 
will follow the same, cxam.ining the country — the streams — 
ascertaining elevations — and whether the said line is, according 
to your observations, a due north line — and marking all varia- 
tions. You wdl endeavor to move oo a due north line towards 
the height of land where is to be found the North West Angle of 
Nova Scotia — making careful observations of all ^acts relative 
to the character of the country, and bearing upon the question 
unsettled between the two Governments. When you have reach- 
ed the Highlands, or height of land, which divides those rivers 
that empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence from those 
which fall into the Atlantic Ocean — you will explore and examme 
the said Northern line of boundary, as far as practical»lc, in the 
manner and for the purposes before mentioned, and so as to be 
certain that you pass over the spot w'lere a minutely accu- 
rate and scientific, survey of the due North Line, will fix the 
said North West Angle of Nova Scotia. In short, the lead- 
ing object of the exploration will be to ascertain, by actual ex- 
amination upon the face of the earth, the practicabdity of run- 
ning and locating a due north line accoiding to the treaty and 
our claim, and to furnish .i topographical report of the country, 
particularly about the North West Angle of Nova Scotia. You 



91 

will, as far as practicable, trace the streams from their source to 
their mouth, and ascertain the course ot" the same. You will 
note all evidences of timber having been taken oiT the disputed 
territory, and when and where carried, and by whom cut, and all 
roads made or making. 

You will make a report to the Governer, as soon as practicable, 
of yonr doings, with such sketches and plans as you may deem 
important in illustrating your report. If, which is not apprehend- 
ed, you should be interrupted or resisted in the execution of the 
duty committed to you, you will yield to nothing but a superior 
force, you will proceed until you are stopped by actual interrup- 
tion, and you will exercise your own judgment uj)on this matter, 
havinfT in view the honor and rights of JMaine. You will make 
no concessions or agreements to or with any other persons or 
Government, or officers, as to the future course of the State or 
yourselves, as Commissioners. You will, as far as practicable, 
keep within the limits of our own State, and carefully avoid any 
tresspass upon the unquestionable territory of New Brunswick. 

You will remain upon this duty until it is fully completed, or 
the severity of the weather compels you to return. You ^viU then 
wait for further orders in reference to a final survey, and location, 
and markincr of the whole line from the monument 'o the North 
West Angle of Nova Scotia. 

KDWARD KENT, 
Governor of the State of Maine. 



NO. 20. 

STATE OF MAINE. 

Executive Department, ) 
Augusta, Sept. 2o, 1838. J 

To His Excellency, Major General 

Sir John Harvey, Lt. Governor 

of the Province of JV. Brimsxvick. 

Sir: — I have the honor to inclose to your Excellency a copy 
of a Resolve, passed by the Legislature of the State of Maine, 
and approved by the Governor l\larch 23, 1838, and also to in- 
form you, that the contingencies therein named not having occur- 
red, and the commission referred to not having been established, 
it became my imperative duty, after the first day of September 
instant, to appoint suitable commissioners and surveyors for the 
purposes specified in said Resolves; and that I have appointed 
and commissioned John G. Deane, Milford P. Norton and James 
Irish, Esqs. as Commissioners and William P. Parrott, Surveyor, 
under said Resolve. 

I have also the honor to inform your Excellency, that I have 



92 

instructed the said commissioners and Surveyor to proceed to the 
Eastern Boundary Line of tliis St-'.te, and to explore and exam- 
ine the country bordering on the yame, and to ascertain how far 
any line of exploration, or otherwise, has been traced and mark- 
ed, towards the North West Angle of Nova Scotia, as claimed 
by Maine and the United States; and to follow the same, exam- 
ininor the fiice of the country, and the streams, and ascertaining 
the elevations, and to move on a due north line towards the height 
of land, where is to be found the spot, which we claim as the 
North West Angle of Nova Scotia, making careful observations 
of all facts relative to the character of the country and bearing 
upon the question pending between the two Governments; and 
also in like manner tracing and examining the northern line along 
the highlands, which divide the rivers falling into the St. Law- 
rence from those falling into the Atlantic Ocean. 

In short, the object of the expedition is to ascertain, by exami- 
nation upon tlie face of the earth, the actual 'acts, and the prac- 
ticability of running and locating a due north line, according to 
our construction of the treaty, and to obtain a topographical re- 
port of the country, particularly about the north west angle of 
Nova Scotia. The sole design of this note is to give to your 
Excellency the facts relative to the nature and object of the expe- 
dition under present instructions, that you may understand the 
state of the exact matter, knowmg that there are many vague 
rumors and unfounded reports on the subject, tending to mislead 
and deceive. 

\^'ith great respect,, 

I have the honor to be 

Your most ob't servant, 

EDWARD KENT. 
Governor of the State of Blaine. 



No. 21. 

Government House, ) 

Frederickton, N. B., October 1st, 1838. j 

Sir: — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, by the 
hands of J. S. Little Esq., of your Excellency's Communication 
of the 25th ultimo, enclosing the Copy of a "Resolve" of the 
Legislature of the State of Maine, and informing me that you 
have appointed Commissioners and Surveyors under that Resolve 
and have furnished them with Instructions of which your Excel- 
lency has been pleased to detail to me the substance. 

After having seen the Resolutions adopted by the Congress of 
the United States on the 4th of July last, i confess 1 had not ex- 



93 

pected any further action on the part of the State of Maine, iu 
reference to a question which is now in discussion betwixt the two 
General Governments, with, as I firmly believe, a sincere desire 
to bring it to an early and satisfactory close. 

Of the courtesy of your Excellency's communication I beg 
you to believe that I am perfectly sensible, and when, in reply 
thereto, I inform }our Excellency that I shall not deem it neces- 
sary to interfere with a mission whose operations shall be confined 
to the purpose stated in your Excellency's letter, namely that of 
merely obtaining topographical information, it is incumbent upon 
me to add that it will be my imperative duty not to suiier any in- 
fringement of the possession and jurisdiction which Great Britain 
hokfs in the Territory in dispute, until the question of Right is 

decided. 

With great respect, 

I have the honor to be, 
Your Excellency's 

Most obedient servant, 

J. HARVEY, 

Maj. Gen., Lt. Gov. of H. B. Majesty^s 
Province o/JV. Br'unsivick. 
His Excellency, Governor Kent, &c., &c., &c. 



94 

No. 2-2. 

THE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT 



To EDWARD KEJ^T, Esq. 

Governor of the State of Maine. 

The Commissioners appointed and commissioned on the 
3d day of Sept. last, under the resolve of the Legislature ap- 
proved March 23, 1S38, to ascertain, run and locate the north- 
eastern houndary line of the State, met at the Bangor House in 
Bangor on the 13th day of said September, for the purpose of 
organizing and conferring with the Governor and with each 
other upon the best and most practicable mode of accomplish- 
ing the objects of said resolve, and fulfilling the duties required 
of them by their appointment; and after a full and deliberate 
examination of the various considerations which might properly 
bear upon the question, they were led to concur with him in the 
opinion, that the only measure that could be attempted the 
present season, with any reasonable prospect of success, was 
an examination and exploration of the region round about the 
Northwest Angle of Nova Scotia, and a review of such part of 
the line of exploration run by the surveyors under the treaty 
of Ghent in 1817 and 18, as they might find time to examine 
as a preliminary measure to the commencement of the running 
and locating a meridian line from the monument. 

One consideration, among others, which had great weight in 
leading to this course, was the fact, that the officers, agents and 
diplomatists of the British Government, liad so long, so posi- 
tively and pertinaciously asserted and maintained that no high- 
lands could be found dividing the waters running into the River 
St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, 
and answering in character and location to the highlands de- 
scribed and undertaken to be established as the boundary in 
the definitive treaty of peace — that not merely high officers of 
the GoverumepU, but many of our own pf-ople were strongly 
inclined to give credit to the assertion. It is true that a little 
refleclion u|)on the suoject might have seemed sufficient to con- 
vince any man of common sense, unless the laws of nature and 
of gravitation v.ere reversed, tiiat these representations were 
entij-ely unfounded in truth; for uiiless water in that region did 



95 

not run down hill — or that it ran indiscriminately from the 
River St. Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean, and from the At- 
lantic Ocean to the St. Lawrence, or unless the whole honndary 
line is in ihe bed of a lake or in an interminable morass, it 
must necessarily and inevitably follow that the lands which 
divide and separate these waters and turn them on their course 
in opposite directions, to remote and distant seas, are high- 
lands in the sense intended by the treaty, whether you com- 
pare them with the level of the seas to which their waters flow, 
or the more immediate intervening lands through which they 
seek their passage. But it is nevertheless still further 
true, that even our own government has seemed recently to 
entertain some doubts of the existence of these highlands in 
the direction of a due north line from the monument. It was 
believed therefore to be exceedingly important to set them 
right on this point, and to test the truth or falsehood of the 
statements of the British autliorities by an actual reconnoisance 
of the region in dispute. 

The exploring line had, on former occasions, in the excur- 
sions of the Commissioners individually in the forest, in pursu- 
ing their own business, been seen and examined in va- 
rious places, between the monument and the point where it 
crosses the river St. John; and therefore it did not seem to 
be necessary to do much on that line, unless it could be accu- 
rately run, so that no future survey would show any error in it. 
The State had not the proper instruments to run the true meri- 
dian or due north line, and it was ascertained that they could 
not be obtained and tested, as to their accuracy, in time to do any 
thing before the weather would prevent the survey this season. 

It was concluded to make the chief explorations and surveys 
to the northward of the River St. John, and to, and about the 
Northwest Angle of Nova Scotia as described in the treaty of 
1783, and thence westwardly on the highlands which divide the 
rivers emptying themselves into the river St. Lawrence from 
those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean; and when the weatb.er 
should prevent opeiations in that quarter, to examine the line 
south to the monument. Such instruments as were necessary 
for taking altitudes and levels, for such surveys as were neces- 
sary to be made this season, could be procured without great 
delay. 

In pursuance of these views and of the instructions of ilie 
Governor, whose duty it was made by the Resolves to 
cause them to bo carried into effect, arrangements were made 



96 

for procuring the necessary instruments, provisions and men 
for the exploration and survey this season. When they were 
procured, most of the men went with the provisions up the Pe- 
nobscot and Sebois Rivers, from whence they carried over 
into the Arostook River and descended it to the Little Machias 
River. Two of the Commissioners and Captain Parrott, the 
Surveyor, went by the way of the Aroostook River, and the 
other Commissioner by the way of Moose Head Lake and the 
Penobscot and Aliguash Rivers. From the Aroostook River 
one Commissioner and seven of the men went by the way of 
the Little Machias and Fish Rivers, and one Commissioner 
and the Surveyor descended the Aroostook, all intending to 
meet at the mouth of the Grand River, the first river falling 
into the River St. .John from the north and westw'ard of the 
exploring line, and twelve or thirteen miles from it. 

The party which arrived first w'as to ascend the Grand river, 
without delay, and the others w^ere to follow in succession as 
they arrived. The several parties arrived at different times. 
The first one ascended Grand river, leaving marks and direc- 
tions at various places, by the river, at the Portages and on the 
line, advising the others of the best mode of following. The 
Commissioners, Surveyor and laborers, with three Lidians, in 
all fifteen, arrived at the highlands near Metis river, a river 
emptying into the river St. Law'rence. The whole w^ere there 
divided into three parties. One party explored the highlands 
and streams in various directions, another party explored and sur- 
veyed westwardly on the highlands dividing the waters, &.C., and 
the third party, under the direction of Wm. P. Parrott, the Sur- 
veyor appointed by the Governor, took various observations to 
ascertain the longitude of the exploring line, and also to deter- 
mine the magnetic variation, and made a vertical survey south on 
the line, to' ascertain the elevation. 

The land at the northern part of the exploring line, and in 
the region round about it, is found to be sufficiently high to 
divide the rivers emptying themselves into the river St. Law- 
rence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean. From 
the Metis, where it is intersected by the exploring line (called 
by the Surveyors under the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, 
Beaver Stream,) the land rises in about one mile south of it on 
the ex|)loring line, by the report and plan of William P. Parrot, 
the Surveyor, which is herewith communicated, more than 
three hundred feet. The land in this region is very high, in 
large swells, ridges and mountains. Between the Metis and 



97 

Katawamkedgewic, or the Great Forks of the Ristigouche, 
is the highest land found on the whole exploring line north of 
the monuineut. Such was the estimation of the Surveyors 
under the fifth article of ihe treaty of Ghent, in which estima- 
tion we fully agree. 

The Metis, by the measurement of the Surveyor, as it appears 
in his report and profile, is five hundred and thirty one feet above 
the level of the Katawamkedgvvic or Great Forks where the line 
crosses it, and in a distance of about fourteen and an half miles. 
Within about one mile South from the Metis, on the exploring 
line, the land rises to an elevation of three hundred and thirty feet 
above its level, and this is the spot where the rivers are divided 
and where the Northwest Angle of Nova S'lotiais to be found. 
The line south of the Katawamkedgewic, or Great Forks, to 
the river Ristigouche, passes most of the way, over high, 
broken and mountainous ridges, a little more depressed than 
those north of the Katawamkedgewic, and the depression in- 
creases, as the Ristigouche is approached. 

South of the river Ristigouche, and between it and the streams 
emptying into the river St. John, is Sugar Mountain, or more 
properly Sugar Mountain Ridge — the line passes over tlie sum- 
mit of it. It is a large swell, and a tract of fine land, free from 
stones and covered with a heavy growth of birch and rock 
maple, with a little mixture of fir and spruce. It is less ele- 
vated than the land before described to the north of the Risti- 
gouche, and the Katawarakedgeu'ic, to the river Metis. Ac- 
cording to the principal British Surveyor under the fifth article 
of the treaty ot Ghent in 1817, in Col. Bouchette's Survey, 
vertical section, and profile of the country from the monument 
ninety nine miles north. Sugar Mountain is shown to be the 
highest land upon or near the line, in that distance from the 
monument; which is undoubtedly the fact. They also exhibit a 
continual rise in the base of the whole country, as indicated by 
the level of the streams, and the land o\ er which the line 
passes, to the waters of the Ristigouche. It shows the Me- 
duxnakeag to be higher than the monument, and the Presq' Isle, 
the DeChute, Aroostook, St. .Tohn and Grand Rivers, all ris- 
ing successively one higher than the other above the level of 
the sea — and the Wagansis, at the termination of the ninety- 
nine miles, IS higher above the level of the sea than any river 
south of it. A copy of Col. Bouchette's survey and profile, 
is for the purpose of illustration annexed to our map. 

Wilham F. Odell, the British Surveyor of the continuation 



98 

of the exploring line from Sugar Mounttfm north, in 1818, 
says, "ihe general fnco of the countiy inay be considered as 
"increasing moderately in elevation northward from the Risti- 
"goiK-he." It does so, as has been before shown. The levels 
of the rivers above the sea also increase. As far as the level of 
the Ristigouche and Katawanikedgwic can be ascertained from 
comparative velocity, depth and width of the streams, forma- 
tion of the bottom and sides, it appears, that the Katavvam- 
kedgew'ic is as high, and jirobably higher, from the level of the 
sea, than the Ristigouche or Wagansis, where the line crosses 
them. Admitting the difiercnt stresms to be of the same height 
above the level of the sea, the Metis or Beaver Pond, is five 
hundred and thirty one feet higher — a base line from which 
drawn South, will show a general inclined plane descending from 
thence to tlie monument at the source of the river St. Croix, 
and that the general elevation of the highlands will be between 
two and tliree thousand feet, also, above the level of the sea. 
Here is the place wiiere the treaty of 1783 describes the 
Northwest Angle of Nova Scotia to be. 

From the north v.-est angle before described, westwardly be- 
tween the rivers Metis and Rimousky, emptying themselves into 
the river St. Lawrence, and the Katawamkedgwic, Green and 
'I'uiedi rivers, falling through channels of various names mto 
the Atlantic Ocean, the base of the country rises; so do the 
highlands dividing the rivers, &c.; and so do the prominent 
points of land or mountains, above the level of the sea. The 
land mast rise or at least cannot be depressed to the head of the 
river St. John and its other branches, as they are longer streams 
with rapid currents. 

In some instances streams or rivers running in opposite di- 
rections have their sources on high and elevated land, which is 
vt'et, and filled with springs, and may very properly be called 
swamps — but in all such cases there is a dividing point, from 
whence the walers run in different directions, and discharge 
theniselves into remote parts of the sea. The source of the 
Saco river and the Amonusuck, a branch of the river Con- 
necticut, is a remarkable instance among others; they rise in the 
same swamp, and almost in the same pond, at an elevation of 
twenty five hundred or three thousand feet above the level of 
the sea. No doubt there may be found on the highlands divid- 
ing the vv'aters &c. on the boundary line, sw^amps which drain 
each way. The most remarkable instance of the sort is at the 
source of the St. John, north branch of the Penobscot and Met- 



99 

jarmette, which discharges itself ihrouglitiie Do Loup and C'hrai- 
diere into the river St Lawrence. The aforesaid rivers have their 
sources in the same swamp, within the compass of half a mile 
of each other, and in one instance, at least, streams run in op- 
posite directions which are only six rods apart. The respec- 
tive streams from this place, as well as from some others in this 
region, run for some distance through swamps and land but little 
elevated above them. The British here, have no difficulty in 
finding the highlands dividing the waters, &e. according to the 
treaty of 1783, ns a part of the boundary. They are the high- 
lands dividing the rivers, &c. and were such the case all 
the way on the line to the Northwest angle of Nova Scotia, it 
would be the line described, meant and intended by the treaty 
of 1783. All the elevation necessary on the line is, only one 
barely sufficient to divide the rivers, &c., not hills nor moun- 
tain ranges. The treaty says not a syllable about mountains, 
mountain ranges, or even hills. 

The course of the Metis river by the North West angle, is 
northwestwardly and pursues that general course, from the best 
authorities, to the river St. Lawrence. The land on the south- 
westwardly side rises in a northwestwardly direction, and many 
streams are found running rapidly from it on the one hand into 
the Metis and St. Lawrence, and on the other into the Kat- 
awamkedgwic river and Atlantic Ocean. On ihs northeaster- 
ly side of the Metis' a range of high and mountainous land is 
seen extending in a N. N. W. and S. S. E. direction for sev- 
eral miles. The whole region, as has been before sliown, is 
very high and elevated above the level of the sea, and not only 
that, it is very much elevated above the streams which run 
through it. We also find by our ex|jloiation and exai^iinaiion, 
that there is no uncertainty or difficulty in tracing and locating 
the line from the North West angle of Nova Scotia westward- 
ly along distinct highlands which divide the rivers &c. as des- 
cribed in the treaty of 1783. 

The soil in the region round about the North West angle of 
Nova Scotia and on the line, appears to be of exccileiU quality, 
covered with a heavy growth of fir, spruce, yellow, black and 
white birch, mountain ash, cherry trees and a very few pines. In 
some places the hard wood predominates, but more generall}' 
the ever-green, particularly in tlie vailies. The soil is free from 
stones, of any considerable size, ar.d recks and ledges, none ap- 
pearing above the surface, and where trees have been tm-n- 
ed up by the wind, the soil appears to be of a reddish color, in 
which are intermixed fragments of reddish sand stone and slate. 



100 

The land on the river St. John and its tributaries is also of 
excellent quality; the soil is generally of a deep rich loam and 
free from stones; the ridges or swells of land are covered with 
a heavy growth of timber. But few inhabitants are settled up- 
on it, perhaps three thousand or thereabouts, and where they 
cultivate it, their labor is abundantly rewarded, in the large 
crops of wheat, barley, buckwheat, oats, potatoes, hay, &c. 
Its great freedom from stones renders the cultivation easy. 
Pine timber is abundant on the river St. John and its branch- 
es, all of which are navigable for the transportation of supplies 
and the driving of logs nearly to their sources, and there is al- 
so an abundance of water power for mills. The resour- 
ces of the country are great; whether its soil or its timber be 
considered, no equal portion of the State bears any compari- 
son to it, and more than one half of the whole pine timber in the 
State is upon it. 

It may be worthy of a passing remark, that the Southeaster- 
ly lake at the head of the Alaguash river is higher, probably 
thirty feet, than a lake opposite called Webster's pond, at the 
head of one of the branches of the east branch of Penobscot 
river. The distance from lake to lake, is half a mile, the land 
is low, and to every ajipearance a canal may be cut across at a 
small expense. If a dam were to be built at the outlet of the 
Bamchenungemook lake, and a canal cut, the timber, from a 
great tract, which abounds in excellent pine timber, may be sent 
dov/n the Penobscot river. 

The Metis river limited the explorations to the Northward, 
and when the explorations in that region were interrupted by the 
weather, and could not be continued for the want of provisions, 
the exploration was continued South towards the monument, 
examining and ascertaining the course the exploring line was 
run, and the magnetic variation and longitude. 

The exploring line run in 1817 and 1818, under the 5th ar- 
ticle of the Treaty of Ghent, is well enough run and marked 
for the purpose for which it was intended, not being intended 
to be the permanent line. The- line is a succession of slight 
curves, not varying much fiom a true meridian. The Surveyors, 
in 1817 and 1818, ascertained the magnetic variation at the Mon- 
ument, the De Chute, Aroostook, Ristigouche, Mempticook or 
Little Forks, Kalawamkedgwick or Great Forks, and at the 
Metis river. They began their survey with about 14° varia- 
tion, and ended with about 17° 45'. The westerly variation 



101 

has increased, and is now, at the northwest angle, 19° 12' 
nearly. 

On the map accompanying this Report, the Conmiissioners 
have endeavored to give a true delineation of the features of 
the country, its rivers and mountains, as far as they could from 
their own explorations, and other explorations and surveys. 
The river St. John and its principal branches are laid down 
from explorations and surveys; the Fish, Aroostook and Pe- 
nobscot rivers, and their branches, from the surveys as far as 
they have heen made by Massachusetts, and Maine and Massa- 
chusetts. The heads of some of the westerly branches of the 
Fish and Aroostook rivers, and the branches of the Aliguash, 
are taken from the information given by Indians and others; so 
are some of the small and unimportant streams in other parts. 
The shores of the river St. Lawrence, and the rivers empty- 
ing into it, are taken from Col. Bouchette's map, published in 
1815 ; so are the mountains and other features of the coun- 
try, excepting only the river Etchemens and river du Sud, 
which were taken from Wm. Henderson's map, who says he 
laid them down from actual surveys. 

The lines are described on the map, according to the Brit- 
ish Proclamation of 1763, the Act of Parliament of 1774, 
and the commissions to the Governor of the Province of 
Quebec and Lower Canada ; also the west line of the Province 
of Nova Scotia, from 1763 until the Province of New Bruns- 
wick was separated from it, and of the Province of New 
Brunswick to the present time, as the line is described in all 
the commissions to the Governors, also according to the Trea- 
ty of 1783, all showing the lines in the same place, so far as 
the State of Maine extends. These repeated and reiterated 
facts show that the Treaty of 17S3 only adopted the lines 
previously established and well understood by the British; 
they also show that the British equally well know at this 
time where the lines thus established are, and must be applied 
to the surface of the earth. The only diflerence in the lines 
of the Proclamation, Act of Parliament, and Treaty, is about 
the heads of Cornecticut river, and west of it, which are de- 
lineated upon the map as far west as it extends. 

It is difficult to imagii c a more certain and accurate des- 
cription of boundaries than that contained in the 'J'reaiy 
of 1783, or which, with more certainty, can be applied on 
the earth's surface. Its monuments are as fixed and ceriain as 



102 

the pole and the everlasting hills, so long as the laws of mo- 
lion and gravitation shall continue. 

It may not be unimportant to inquire what the British claim 
is, and what the boundaries of their Provinces are, so far as 
tliey are connected with this question. It is well known, 
as an historical fact, that the British and French long con- 
tended for empire in America — each endeavoring to expel 
the other. Oct. 7, 1G91, by the charter of Vv'illiam and Ma- 
ry, the Province of Massachusetts Bay contained what is 
now the State of Maine and the Provinces of Nova Scotia and 
New Brunswick, with the part of Canada lying betvv'een Maine 
and New Brunswick on the one hand, and the river St. Law- 
rence on tlie other. In 1719, the Province of Nova Scotia 
had a separate Governor, without any specified limits, further 
than could be gathered from the description in the commission 
of "Nova Scotia, or Acadie, in America." Thus the Pro- 
vinces continued, until the peace which ended the war of 1756, 
and vvhicli put an end to the rights and jurisdiction of the 
French. 

The Royal Proclamation of Oct. 7th, 1763, establishes the 
Government of Quebec, and so much of the southern bounda- 
ry of it as is connected with the present controversy is: 
" w'hence the said line crossing the river St. Lawrence and 
" the Lake Champlain in forty-five degrees of north latitude 
'■^passes along the highlands lohich divide the rivers that emp- 
" ty themselves into the said river St. Lawrence from those which 
^'■fall into the sea and also along the north coast of the Bay 
" des Chaleurs and the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
" to Cape Rosieres and from thence crossing the mouth of 
" the river St. Lawrence. " 

Gov. James Murray was the first Governor of the Province 
of Quebec, and his commission was dated Nov. 21st, 1763, 
and contains the same description of boundary. In the com- 
mission to Gov. Montague Wdtnot, dated Nov. 2lst, 1763, 
appointing him Governor of the Province of Nova Scotia, the 
north and west boundaries are thus described: " To the north- 
" ward our said Province shall be bounded by the southern 
" boundaiy of our Province of Quebec as far as the western 
" extremity of the Bay des Chaleurs. " To the tcesticard, "it 
" shall be bounded by a line drawn from Cape Sable across the 
" entrance of the Bay of Fundy to the mouth of the river 
" St. Croix by said river to its source and by a line drawn 
'< due north from thence to the southern boundary of our colony 



103 



a 



of Quebec. " It follows that all the te^'riioiy which was not 
taken by llie Proclamation of 1763, and changed by the com- 
mission to Gov. Wilmot, was still the Province of Massachu- 
setts Bay, and therefore its northeastern boundary was the riv- 
er St. Croix, and a line drawn due north from its source to the 
south line of the Province of Quebec, and thence westwardly 
along the highlands which divide the rivers emptying them- 
selves into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into 
the sea, as far westward as the Province of Massachusetts Bay 
extended. 

The same boundary as was described in the Proclamation of 
1763, and in the commission to Gov. James Murray, was con- 
tinued in the commissions to the succeeding Governors of the 
Province of Quebec, until after the passing of an Act by tlie 
British Parliament, entitled '■'■An Act for making more efiect- 
ual provision for the Government of the Province of Quebec, 
in North America," passed in 1774. The Act aforesaid bounds 
the Province of Quebec, '■'■on the south by a line from the Bay 
" of Chaleurs, along the highlands ichich divide the rivers that 
" empty themselves into the riuer St. Lawrence from those 
'•'■' which fall into the sea., to a point in lorty-five degrees of 
" northern latitude on the eitstern bank of the river Connecti- 
" cut, keeping the same latitude directly west, througli Lake 
" Ciiamplain, until, in the same latitude, it meets the river St. 
" Lawrence. " The lines described by the Proclamation and 
Act of Parliament differ only about the head of Connecticut 
river, and from Connecticut river to Lake Champlain, 

In the commission to Gov. Frederick Haldimand, of tlie 
Province of Quebec, dated Sept. 18th, 1777, the same boun- 
dary is precisely and literally recited. The commissions to 
Gov. Campbell in 1765, to Gov. Legge in 1773, and to Gov. 
Parr in 1782, successive Governors of the Province of Nova 
Scotia, all contain the following boundaries: "Bounded on the 
" icestward by a line drawn from Cape Sable across the en- 
" trance of the Bay of Fundy to the mouth of the river St. 
" Croix, by said river to its source, and by a line drau-n due 
" north from thence to the southern boundary of our Province 
" of Quebec ; to the northward by the said boundary, as far 
" as the western extremity of the Bay des Chaleurs ; to the 
" eastward by the said Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, " 
&c. Such were the boundaries of the respective British Provin- 
ces up to and at tiie time of the war of the revolution, made, and 



104 

recited again and again, by the King and Council, and Parlia- 
ment, for a period of nearly twenty years. 

The definitive treaty of Sept 3d, 1783, between the United 
Stales and Great Brilain, dechires and describes the bounda- 
ries as follows: '■^ ^flnd that all disputes ichich might arise in 
'■'- future^ on the subject of the boundaries of the United States^ 
" may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that the 
" iollowino; are and shall be their boundaries, viz : From the 
" northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz. that angle which is 
" formed by a line drawn due north from the source of the St. 
" Croix river to the highlands : along the said highlands which 
" divide the rivers that empty themselves into the river St. 
" Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to 
" the northwesternmost head of Connecticut river ; thence 
" down along the middle of that river to the forty -fifth degree 
" of north latitude ; from thence by a line due west on said 
" latitude, until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy. " 
" East by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river St. 
" Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fuiidy to its source, 
" and from its source directly north to the aforesaid highlands 
" which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from 
" those which fall into the river St. Lawrence. " 

By a comparison, it will be readily seen that the boundaries 
difi^er in only one place from the boundaries which were estab- 
lished by the British, to wit, at the head of Connecticut river. 
The commission to Gov. Carlelon, dated 22d April, 1786, a 
short period after the definitive treaty of peace, bounds his 
government "South by a line from the Bay of Chaleurs, along 
" the highlands ichich divide the rivers that erupt y themselves 
" into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the 
" Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost head of Connecti- 
" cut river ; thence down along the middle of that river to the 
" forty-fifth degree of north latitude ; from thence due west on 
" said latitude, until it strikes the river L'oquois or Caiara- 
" quy. " Here it seems the British changed the line in their 
commissions to Governors, as they had dene previously, after 
the alteration of the line by the Act of Parliament of 1774. 
A comparison also shows the exact coincidence of this line 
with the line described in the treaty of 1783. The successive 
Governors of the Province have been limited by the same line 
to the present time — although the Province of Quebec was in 
1791 divided into two Provinces, called in the Act of division 
Upper and Lower Canada. 



105 

'After dividing the . Province of Nova Scotia and estab- 
lishing the Province of New Brunswick out of it, the Commis- 
sion to Gov. Carleton bounds kis government "Westward by 
"the mouth of the river St. Croix by said river to its source, 
" and by a Vine drawn due north from thence to the southern 
*' boundar}' of our province of Quebec, to the Nortliward by said 
" boundary as far as the western extremity of the Bay des Cha- 
" lears,,to the eastward by said Bay and the Gulph of St. Law- 
" rence to the Bay called Bay Verie," &c. Such have been 
the boundaries in the Governors' Commissions of the Pro- 
vince from that to the present time; even this year the Com- 
mission to the Earl of Durham, making him Captain General and 
Governor in Chief over the Province of New Brunswick in 
America bounds his Government westward " by the mouth of 
" the river St. Croix, by said river to its source and by a line 
" drawn due north from thence to the Southern boundary of 
" our Province of Quebec, to the northward by the said boun- 
" dary as far as the western extremity of the Bay de Chalcurs, 
"to the eastward by the said Bay and the Gulf of St. Law- 
" rence to the Bay called Bay Verte. " A comparison of 
the boundaries shows them to be one and the same. A com- 
parison of the boundaries further shows that the river St. Law- 
rence and the rivers emptying into it, are all clearly and dis- 
tinctly placed in one class, and all other rivers, v/hether they 
fall into the Bay des Chalcurs, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the 
Bay of Fund}', or any other Gulf, Bay or Sound, are placed 
in another distinct class, as rivers falling into the sea or Atlan- 
tic Ocean. 

Examine the boundaries of the Province of Quebec, so 
far as the territory of the State of Maine is concerned, in the 
Proclamation of 1763, the act of Parhamenl of 1774 and in 
all the commissions of the Governors to the present day, and 
the soulhern boundary is uniform, by the highlands which divide 
the rivers &c. to the liead of the Bay of Chalcur. Examine 
also the boundaries in the commissions of the Governors of the 
Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and they are 
also uniform from 1763 to the present time, and they are 
bounded west by a line due north from the source of the river 
St. Croix to the Southern Boundary of the Province of Que- 
bec, and northward by said boundar}^, as far as the western 
extremity of the Bay de Chaleurs, and to the eastward by 
said bay, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, &c. and what can be said 
of a pretence at this time, that the bay of Fundy is not, within 
7 



106 

the true intent and meaning of all the boundaries, as established 
by the British and adopted by the treaty of 1783, a part and 
parcel of the Atlantic Ocean and included in that description 
of boundary ? 

A brief notice of another class of facts may not be unim- 
portant, as they tend to show the construction put upon the 
treaty boundary by legislators and agents of the British Gov- 
ernment and their men of science. 

In the session of Parliament in 1783 immediately succeed- 
the treaty, the ministry were charged with having made a bad 
bargain with the United States, by surrendering to them the 
country now in question; as it divided the British Provinces 
of Nova vScotia and Quebec. The charge was acknowledged 
by the Ministry, and their apology was that by giving the U- 
nited States this territory it would secure a more lasting peace. 
The map publislied with the debates of that session shows the 
territory as claimed by us. 

Judge Chipman, the British agent under the fifth article of 
the treaty of 1794 to settle what river was meant by the river 
St. Croix in the treaty of 1783, in his argument says — "It is 
" sufficient here to observe, that at the time the treaty of peace 
" was made in 1783, the Provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia 
" belonged to and were in the possession of the Crown of Great 
" Britain and that his Britannic Majesty, at that time, had an 
"undoubted right to cede to the United States of America 
" such part of these territories as he might think fit; and that 
" in making the cession of the territory comprised within the 
"boundaries of the United States, as described in the second 
"• article of the treaty of peace, his JMctjesty must be supposed 
" to have used the terms describing these boundaries in the 
'■'■ sense in which theij had been uniformly understood by the 
" British nation, and recognised in public documents and 
" acts of Government. In this sense, and in no other, could 
" they have been then understood, or can they noio be claimed 
" or insisted upon by the United States. The Province of 
" Nova Scotia at the time of the treaty of 1783, was, as has 
" already appeared, bounded to the northward by the southern 
" boundary of the Province of Quebec; which boundary was es- 
" tablished by the Royal Proclamation of the 7th October, 1763, 
"and confirmed by the Acts of the 14th of Geo. 3, chap. 83, 
" passed in the same year w-ith the act of Parliament already ci- 
" ted, by which it is enacted that all the territories, islands and 
" countries in North America, belonging to the crown of Great 
" Britain, bounded on the south by a line from the Bay of 



cc 



107 

Chaleur, along the highlands which divide the rivers thai 
empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those 
" which fall into ine sea, to a point in forty five degrees of 
" northern latitude on the eastern hank of the River Connccti- 
" cut, &c., he annexed to and made a part and parcel of the 
" I'rovincc of Quebec." 

'* As, then, at the treaty of Peace of 1783 the northern 
" limit of Nova Scotia was along the highlands which divide 
"the rivers which empty themselves into the river St. Law- 
" rence from those which (\ill into the sea^ it unquestionably 
^^ follows that the JVorth West An^le of J\^ova Scotia, at the 
" treaty of Peace o/1783, teas the angle which teas formed by a 
" line drawn duenorthfrom the source' of the river St. Croix to 
" those highlands: If ice compare lids Angle with the JS^orlh 
" West Angle of J^ova Scotia descHbed in the treaty of Peace, 
'•'•viz: that Angle which is formed by a line drawn due north 
^^ from the source of the S!. Croix River to the same highlands, 
'•'•can it be said with any degree of propriety, that the limits 
" and boundaries of JYova Scotia were unknown at the time of 
" the treaty of peace of 1783, and that it therefore became 
" necessary to give it a western boundary by the treaty itself, 
" in these words to ivit: that angle which is formed by a line 
" due north from the source of the river St. Croix to the high- 
" lands ?" 

" Can it be believed or Jor a moment imagined, that in the 
'•'■ course of human events, so exact a coincidence could have 
" happened betiveen the actual boundaries of the Province of 
" JS^ova Scotia and the boundary of it described in the treaty, 
" if the latter had not been dictated and regulated by the 
'■'•formerV 

" Can any man hesitate to say he is convinced that the com- 
" missioners at Paris in 1783, in forming the 2d article of the 
" treaty of peace, in which they have so exactly described this 
" northwest angle, had reference to, and were governed by the 
" boundaries of Nova Scotia as described in the grant to Sir 
" William Alexander, and the subsequent alteration of the 
" northern boundary by the erection of the Province of QjucbecV 

Again the British maps published separately or annexed to 
their histories, travels &c. after the Proclamation of 1763 until 
1815, all represent the line as claimed now by the State of 
Maine. The maps published during the time which elapsed 
between the Provisional Treaty and the definitive treaty of 
peace to wit: 



Sagcr and Bennet's United States of America with the 
British Possessions, &c., London Otii February, 1783. 

Bew's North America, &c, (or Rebel Colonies, now Unit- 
ed States) engraved for the Political Magazine, London, 9th 
February, 17S3. 

J. Wallis', United Stales of America, &c., liOndon, April, 
1783, 

J. Carey's United States of America, &c., London, July, 
1783, 

all show the lines, as all the preceding had done, and show the 
understanding of the people, and the nation, and no doubt were 
intended to aid in or illustrate the debates in Parliament. One 
of them at least was, as it appears from its title and the purpose 
to which it was applied. Tlius far has been detailed the under- 
standing of the British Government and the people, including 
the intelligent portion of them — when too the attention of the 
whole nation was distinctly called to the subject, when every 
circumstance was the most exciting, when every circumstance 
was as fresh as it could be in the recollection of every one, 
and when if there had been the slightest doubt or misappre- 
hension, it would have appeared on the one or tlie other side, 
still the government and men of science all collectively express 
but one and the same opinion. The boundaries are recognized 
and understood to be, where they had been before established 
by the British Government, adopted by the treaty of 1783, and 
the State of Maine now insists they are. 

Again at the time of the treaty of Ghent in 1814 the British 
Commissioners wished to purchase or acquire the territory or 
a part of it, for some equivalent in territory or otherwise. 
The whole ap|)ears in the correspondence between the com- 
missioners of the respective Governments at the time the 
U'eaty of Ghent was made. 

Again in 1817 when tiie iVgents and Commissioners under 
the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent met and instructed the 
Surveyors to run the line according to the treaty of 1783 ac 
cording to the authority given them by the aforesaid fifth arti- 
cle, they instructed the surveyors to run an exploring line, and 
also a permanent line from the monument at the source of the 
river St. Croix due north to the rivers, or a river emptying into 
the river St. Lawrence, and thence along the highlands dividing 
the rivers emptying into the river St. Lawrence from those 
which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northvvesternmost 
head of Connecticut Uiver. Thus far there appears to have 



109 

been no claim set up by the British to any part of the State 
of Elaine, and had those instructions been throughout carried into 
full and complete efleet, the controversy which now exists would 
have been long since settled; the boundary would have been 
established according to the ancient lines, and the treaty of 1783. 

In 1818 the British Agent, Judge Chipman, had the address 
to procure the annulling of those instructions excepting so far 
as to continue the exploring line due north from the monument 
to a river emptying into the river St. Lawrence, leaving the 
line on the highlands dividing the rivers, &c., to the north- 
westernmost head of Connecticut River, excepting at a (ew 
points totally unexplored — even an exploring line was never 
run on that part of the boundary. 

In the preceeding part of this report the boundaries have all 
been precisely and literally stated as contained in all the official 
acts of the British Government, to the present time, also the 
cotemporaneous construction of Parliament, and the under- 
standing of their geographers, historians and men of science, 
and it may now well be asked by what authoriiy do the pro- 
vincial British Governments exercise any jurisdiction beyond 
the limits of their commissions, to tax, fine and imprison our citi- 
zens, and strip or suffer to be stripped the most available and 
valuable timber from our forests, and not only that, but inter- 
rupting and retarding the settlement of our domain consecrated 
by the toils and blood of our ancestors and secured to us by the 
solemn obligations of a treaty.^ The only answer is, by intru- 
sion or invasion; their conduct has for a long time been an act 
or a succession of acts of war, and were the British to pursue 
such a course with any European nation of sufficient strength 
to meet her, (the Russian for instance) she would soon find 
herself involved in a v.ar. It cannot fail to astonish every man 
of common sense that a nation, professing to be highminded 
and honorable, should so far depart from the course which they 
ought to pursue, as to attempt to wrest a portion of territory 
from the State of Maine, which all her official acts show so 
clearly belongs to it. 

It may not be considered wholly unimportant to examine 
briefly the claim hitely set up by the British Agents. The 
claim, if they are to be credited, originated in doubts and 
queries, and has been sustained Ly doubts and queries, mystifica- 
tions and sophistries. They have been aided in their doubts and 
queries, no doubt, by the language and statements of the King of 
Holland, who seems to have had much difficulty, in not deciding 



no 

in favor of the U. States, and recommended a new boundary, on 
the ground, that inasmuch as the territory intervened between 
the British Provinces, and would interrupt their communication 
if it belonged to the United States, it could not be presumed 
that the British intended to give it up, when they and the United 
States made the treaty of 1783. At the same time the King 
did not spend much time in disposing of the new pretended 
claim of boundary, the British mountain range from INIars Hill. 

Since the recommendation of the King of Holland the 
British appear to have taken courage, and say now the north- 
west Angle of INova Scotia cannot be found according to the 
former description of boundaries and according to the treaty 
of 1783. The claim for a new boundary, when first promul- 
gated by them, within a few years, appeared by their own 
statements to have originated in doubts, but not even now very 
tangible, but as far as they can be understood, they say Mars 
Hill is the North West Angle of Nova Scotia according to the 
treaty of 1783, and that a mountain range from thence extends 
to Mount Ktahdn. If they were to continue southwestwardly 
they might find other mountains, such as Mounts Bigelow, 
Abraham and Mount Washington the White Hills in New 
Hampshire, none of them having the slightest possible connex- 
ion with the sources of any streams einptyiug into the River 
St. Lawrence. 

The British have taken good care not to explore the coun- 
try with any accuracy, and only by distant views, where, by the 
force of a predisposition aided by imagination, from one and 
another place of observation, they could fancy detached moun- 
tains united in ranges, and could make out sketches accordingly. 
If they had been governed by fair and honest intentions, and 
a single desire to ascertain the truth, they would have surveyed 
the streams, the lands, especially the lands at the heads of the 
streams, flowing in difterent directions, and the mountains, and 
would have made maps showing accurately the true and exact 
features of the whole country; they would not have made and 
exhibited their fancy and imaginary sketches from Mar's Hill, 
Park's Farm, Ktahdn, and from the sources of the Main Pe- 
nobscot River, laying down mountain ranges for many miles, 
where there are only lakes, level land, bogs and swamps. Such 
a course would not answer their purposes. 

The British pretend that IMars Hill is the North West 
Angle of Nova Scotia according to the treaty of 1783. 
Where is Mars Hill.^ Decs t-r.y stream or even spring flow 



Ill 

from it into the river St. Lawrence? The map shows its true 
position, that it is a detached eminence, surrounded by the 
river St. John and its tributary streams. The exploring line 
passes through a valley to the eastward of it, and southwest 
and north, it is divided from any thing like a mountain range, or 
even a hill, by rivers, low and level lands for several miles. 
It is more than a hundred miles from the rivers emptying into 
the river St. Lawrence, and so far from dividing the rivers 
emptying into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall 
into the Atlantic Ocean, it only divides streams and rivers 
emptying themselves into the river St. John. It cannot be 
approached in a due north line from the monument at the source 
of the St. Croix River, except by crossing Bull's Stream, the 
Meduxnekeag, Presqu' Isle and other streams all emptying into 
the river St. John; Mars Hill cannot therefore come within 
the boundary described in the treaty. 

The North West Angle of Nova Scotia is on the south line 
of the Province of Quebec, at the heads of the rivers empty- 
ing into the River St. Lawrence. To have been consistent, 
the Province of New Brunswick ought not to have claimed 
and exercised jurisdiction so many miles in a due north line, 
north of the assumed North West Angle of the Province. The 
Province of Quebec ought to have claimed and exercised the 
jurisdiction from 17C3 and ought not to have allowed Nova 
Scotia or New Brunswick to have gone any further north. 
The boundaries and the late claim are totally inconsistent. 

It has already appeared that the British Surveyors were too 
cautious to survey the line they seemed to pretend to claim, 
being aware that a true developement of. facts would overcome 
theory or statement — and such sketches as could be made from 
distant positions. On the map accompanying this report, the 
line from JMar's Hill is laid down according as the British claim 
it, from surveys made by iNIaine and INfassachuselts of town- 
ships and the country on the line — and from surveys from 
Mar's Hill along the heads of the streams, to the carrying 
place between the north branch of Penobscot River and the 
south branch of the river St. John, made by Daniel Rose and 
George W. Cofhn, land Agents of Maine and Massachusetts in 
1828 — and Daniel Rose in 1829, which show a few detached 
hills and fewer mountains, and that there is no continuous range 
of mountains uniting Mars Hill with Mount Ktahdn or in any 
other direction between the sources of the streams, as the 
British surveyors have reported, as having distinctly seen but 



112 

from remote points of observation. The hills and mountains 
are many miles assundcr, divided by lakes, rivers and swamps, 
and level lands. 

No one who examines the subjeci thoroughly, tlie long list 
of reiterated and positive evidence, and the late claim of the 
British, can suppose that the British ever expected to obtain it. 
However much it may reflect upon a nation calling themselves 
" Jiighminded and honorable,'''' it cannot be supposed that they 
ever expected, by any management, to obtain only a part to 
wit: a tract to the northward of the river St. John, to secure 
their intercourse between the Provinces. 

If the subject is examined in all its bearings and consequen- 
ces, it will be perceived that the territory north of the River 
St. John is the key stone of the arch, and if given up, leaves 
the whole territory watered by the river St. John and its tribu- 
taries, at the mercy of the British, and essentially a part of 
the Province of New Brunswick. They, by commercial or 
other regulations, cfin render the vast quantities of fine timber 
now standing and growing in tliat region valueless to the State 
of Maine; they may harvest the profits of the lumber and the 
industr}' of the people, and make them dependent, and prevent 
any thing but a nominal connection with the State. 

If the right of passage be deserved by either party, by the 
British, betw( en their Provinces through the State of Maine, 
or by the State of Maine between iheir terrritory and the sea, 
for either party to transport their mails or productions or what- 
ever they please, there does not appear to be any very strong 
or reasonable objection to it. A reciprocal arrangement might 
be made, securing the riglits of passage to each, which would 
be mutually beneficial, and to carry such arrangements into full 
and complete efiect no cession of Territory by either party 
is necessary. 

In a time of vrar the free use of the right of passage might be 
interrupted according to inclination or the force of the parties. 
A cession of territory by either party, will give to the party 
to whom the territory is ceded a decided advantage. The par- 
ty who has the cession of territory can by regulations or by the 
conduct of her officers, whenever it sees fit, interrupt the pas- 
sage, for which there will be no redress except through nego- 
tiation or war. Should it be thought advisable to grant a right 
of passage, and that too on recijDrocal grounds, leaving the ter- 
ritorial jurisdiction where it now belongs, it would leave 
each party with equal rights and equal coercive powers, 



11^ 

and ensure the most lasting continuance to the arrangement. 
A right on paper only, securing the free navigation of the riv- 
er St. John to the State of Maine or the United States, as far 
as any opinion can be formed from the continual and daily vio- 
lation, by the Province, of the most solemn acts of the British 
government, if tlic State of IVIaine yields the right of sover- 
eignty of any portion of her territory at the north, would be of 
very little or no value. Her citizens in the transit of their 
lumber or their produce might be continually interrupted, their 
property might be detained, without their being able to procure 
redress during the period of their lives, as redress must depend 
upon a long protracted negotiation of which we have sufficient 
experience, or a war. 

The Commissioners are preparing a map of the country to 
explain and illustrate the prominent parts and features presented 
in their report, and to which map reference has been repeatedly 
made. But the map not being completed, they can with 
this report deliver only a rough draft as far as they have made 
it, but will deliver a more perfect map of the country as far as 
past explorations and surveys furnish the authorities, as soon as 
it can be finished. Future explorations and surveys will, 
no doubt, develope new facts which can hereafter be ad- 
ded. It has been, and is, the intention of the Commissioners, 
to represent the great and prominent features of the country, 
its principal rivers and branches, and its mountains correctly, 
which they presume they shall accomplish, while many of the 
minor parts may be less accurate for the want of the proper 
authorities. 

The map accompanying this Report is marked No. 1. 

Gen. Irish's Plan is marked No. 2. 

Wm. P. Parrott's Report and Plans are marked No, 3. 

A copy of Col. Bouchette's vertical section, from the monu- 
ment at the source of (he river St. Croix, North ninety-nine 
miles, taken by him in 1817, while he vi'as the principal British 
Surveyor under the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent, is 
marked No. 4. 

The Commissioners having been by their instructions direct- 
ed to make further enquiries, thej- will, as soon as they can, 
make another report, embracing all the subjects to which their 
attention was called and which are not embraced in this Report. 
JOHN G. DEANE, 
M. P. NORTON, )■ Commissioners 
JAMES IRISH. 

Augusta, Dec. 31, 1838. 



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